Nkosentsha Khumalo
Amid reports of an impending famine in the aftermath of the El Niño-induced drought, President Emmerson Mnangagwa raised a clarion call for global assistance to feed the country’s hungry.
As a stopgap measure while awaiting international aid, the Zimbabwean government under the tutelage of Minister July Moyo has taken the initiative to launch a ‘Cash for Cereal’ program, targeting 1.7 million citizens living in urban areas.
The severity of the food crisis became starkly apparent in May this year, when Zimbabwean authorities, led by the ruling Zanu-PF party made an urgent plea for international food aid citing the devastating effects of El Niño-fueled drought on the country’s agriculture and food security.
At a gathering of delegates in Bulawayo, Minister of Public Service and Social Welfare, July Moyo confirmed that President Mnangagwa had reached out to the global community, beseeching for food aid to address the looming famine.
Moyo painted a dire picture of the food insecurity affecting an estimated five million Zimbabweans, a figure that was corroborated by food monitoring agencies, highlighting the severity of the crisis.
In a candid assessment of the situation, Minister Moyo stressed that the famine would not discriminate between rural and urban dwellers, as both sectors of the population would feel the pangs of hunger equally.
Subsequently, President Mnangagwa declared a national state of disaster, triggered by reports from food monitoring agencies indicating that a staggering five million Zimbabweans were at risk of food insecurity.
After President Mnangagwa’s declaration of a state of disaster and subsequent call for international aid to stave off hunger, the Zimbabwean government has taken matters into its own hands by rolling out a ‘Cash for Cereal’ program targeting 1.7 million citizens in urban areas.
In a recent statement, the Provincial Social Development Officer Bulawayo Metropolitan Province, E Mlambo said:
“Following the El-nino induced drought that saw below normal rainfall being received in the country, it rendered some people food insecure. The results of the Urban Zimbabwe Livelihood Assessment confirmed this and indicated that about 35% of the urban population will be food insecure in the urban areas across the country.”
“Accordingly, Government would like to provide cash transfers to 1.7 million in the country’s urban domains. In order to facilitate this, enumerators have been recruited to undertake registration in all the urban households to ascertain the number of people who will require food assistance.”
“As such we have Ward Child Care Workers (CCWs) for wards 7-29 under the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, enumerators undertaking the registration exercise from 10 August to September 2024. The programme is rolled out in wards 7-29,” said Mlambo.
Mlambo urged the public to corporate with the enumerators during this exercise, further noting that being registered does not mean that citizens will automatically benefit from the programme.
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