Chimoio (Mozambique), 18 Oct (AIM) – The Mozambican government is mobilizing funds in order to assist, as of November this year, about 20,000 households suffering from food insecurity in four districts of the central province of Manica.
According to Dionísio Rapieque, the head of the Food Security Department at the Provincial Directorate of Agriculture and Fisheries in Manica, the support will cover the districts of Machaze, Macossa, Guro and Tambara. He said these districts have been facing food insecurity as a result of the drought caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon.
“In the districts of Tambara and Machaze, nearly 9,000 households will be assisted. In Guro, around 7,500 households will be supported and Macossa has 3,500 in need of food assistance. This number of households represents more than 100,000 people plagued by food insecurity, caused by the drought due to the El Nino phenomenon”, he said.
Last September, the country’s relief agency, the National Disaster Management Institute (INGD), said that it needs over 200 million dollars to support communities plagued by food insecurity. However, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said that seven provinces need food aid as a result of El Niño, and the field support plan needs funding totalling 170 million dollars to bring aid to 1.1 million people.
Rapieque said that, in addition to food, “the government and its partners will provide the households with agricultural inputs for production in the next agricultural campaign. These households have lost extensive areas of various crops due to the drought”.
The seeds required, he said, will be short-cycle and each household will be able to benefit from inputs and take advantage of low-lying areas to produce food and guarantee food security.
“The idea is that these households will quickly produce and have food. Therefore, we believe that by the beginning of next year, food security will be guaranteed in some regions that are currently being plagued by food insecurity”, Rapieque explained.
“We will also have to provide drinking water for the population. We know that due to the lack of rain, many households are in areas where there is a shortage of water for human consumption”, he added.
Manica had hoped to produce around 4.4 million tonnes of various crops, most notably grain. However, this production plan was not achieved due to the El Nino drought.
(AIM)
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