Govt to temporarily stop food distribution

Harare (New Ziana) -The Zimbabwe government will on April 30 temporarily stop distributing grain to vulnerable persons to allow for a re-targeting exercise to be conducted soon, a cabinet Minister has said.

In a statement on Thursday, Public Service Labour and Social Welfare Minister Paul Mavima said the re-targeting exercise would be done in collaboration with development partners upon release of results of the upcoming Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVAC) Rural Livelihoods survey.

The re-targeting exercise is a way of reducing unnecessary cost and is also premised on the basis that the 2020-2021 season had had normal to above normal rainfall.

“During this re-targeting exercise, Drought Relief Committees are expected to respond to distress calls only and those that really need food assistance after thorough assessment,” said Mavhima.

The retargeting exercise would enable the government to revert to the stipulated cycle of the Food Deficit Mitigation Strategy (FDMS), he said.

“My Ministry in collaboration with Development Partners have already embarked on an exercise to review the tools that will be used during the re-targeting of eligible beneficiaries and the overall implementation of the programme.”

The Government has been reaching out to 735 455 households requiring 36 773mt of grain per month.

Current beneficiaries are as per 2016 ZIMVAC projection and the characteristics and conditions have since changed in other districts for the better and in others districts for worse, hence the need to target using the results of the upcoming results of the ZIMVAC 2021 livelihood assessment.
New Ziana