By SYLVESTER MWALE –
MORE than 100 tonnes of relief maize have been dispatched to Luano District in Central Province to avert the hunger situation in the area.
The 100 tonnes, an equivalent of 2,000x 50 kg bags of maize, are the latest after a similar consignment was distributed in the new district few months ago.
District Commissioner Christopher Chibuye said a team of officials from the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) from Lusaka also arrived on Monday to further assess the hunger situation.
“The truth of the matter is that the hunger situation is serious here, but I would like to say that we have received 100 tonnes of relief food and we would like to thank the Government.
“The consignment is far below what we need at the moment and the officials from DMMU in Lusaka are in the district to start the assessment and determine the actual number of people affected,” he said.
Mr Chibuye noted that the valley area was the worst affected and hoped that more relief food would be sent to the district to help more people.
He also noted that the area was currently experiencing poor rainfall which could result in another food shortage next year unless it rained in the next two weeks.
In a related development, Kapiri Mposhi District Commissioner Peter Mwiinde says the district disaster management committee is currently assessing the hunger situation to ascertain the number of people who need relief food.
Mr Mwiinde said the district had received 100 tonnes of maize which would be distributed to the hunger affected households once the assessment was concluded this Friday.
He said while some families had been affected, there were many people who were food secure and would not require relief maize.
“Apart from that, the fields in the district are looking good and I don’t think we will need relief food next year because we have good crop,” he said.
Mr Mwiinde attributed the good performance of the crop in the field to the successful implementation of the e-voucher system which he said had worked well in the district.
