PARTNERSHIPS KEY TO AVERT FOOD INSECURITY – SHEAL MULYATA

Kalobwe Bwalya

COLLABORATIVE efforts among stakeholders have made it possible to avert possible food insecurity in Lusaka Province, Provincial Minister Sheal Mulyata has observed.

And Ms. Mulyata said despite the prolonged drought, significant progress had been made by the Provincial Administration in ensuring food security.

She said the Government had made strides in realigning the country’s resources to enhance water harvesting mechanisms.

She explained that although the country had been ravaged by hunger, the Government was working around the clock to ensure that no one went to bed hungry.

She stated that the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) was working with her office to distribute relief food targeting families that had been hardly affected adding that in Luangwa District, DMMU had already started distributing the relief food to those especially living in the valley.

“The Government has started rendering support to farmers and families in Luangwa District whose crops were destroyed due to the devastating drought that affected most parts of the country and the Government has put in interventions to avert the hunger situation not only in Lusaka Province, but the country as whole,” Ms. Mulyata said.

And Ms. Mulyata disclosed that one of the interventions was increasing the production of cheaper mealie meal by the Zambia National Service (ZNS) which was frequently distributed to all parts of the country.

She explained the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) was also selling bags of maize to the villagers at the cheaper price so that everyone could have access to the food.

She further revealed that the Government, through DMMU, had already dispatched relief food to the most affected villages to cushion the hunger situation and has since appealed to the general public not to panic as the Government was doing everything possible to ensure that everyone was catered for.

“The Government has already started distributing relief food to most effected and it is also ensuring that prices mealie meal does not skyrocket to avert the hunger situation.

“Therefore, I appeal to the general public not to panic as all interventions have been put in place to address the hunger situation in the country,” she said.