Hertta-Maria Amutenja
Cabinet has given the green light for an increase in the provision of bags of maize meal for drought relief.
Now, each household will receive 20 kilograms of maize meal bags every month throughout the drought relief program for the 2023/24 financial year.
This substantial increase replaces the previous 12.5-kilogram allocation to each household.
This announcement was made by the Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Peya Mushelenga, during the 17th cabinet decision-making meeting.
The minister has also addressed several other crucial decisions made by the executive.
He said the Cabinet has directed the Ministry of Gender, Equality, Poverty Eradication, and Social Welfare to explore the possibility of distributing food to marginalised communities every month and to augment the food rations accordingly.
Mushelenga also shared that the Cabinet has extended the drought relief program to include families or individuals registered under the marginalised communities program, as well as the uncovered food bank beneficiaries.
“Cabinet approved that the drought relief program be extended to families or individuals registered under the marginalised communities program and the uncovered food bank beneficiaries until such food rations can be distributed every month by the Ministry of Gender, Equality, Poverty Eradication, and Social Welfare,” he said.
Additionally, the Cabinet directed the Ministry of Gender to provide data on marginalised communities and unregistered food bank beneficiaries to the Office of the Prime Minister in order for them to benefit from the drought relief program.
Moreover, the cabinet approved that the Office of the Prime Minister should allocate resources to regional councils, to ensure adequate human resources capacity for the smooth administration of the drought relief program.
Last month, Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila announced the initiation of a drought relief program that will be effective from 1 October 2023 to June 2024 to address drought-related challenges and food insecurity.
This announcement followed the Annual Livelihood Vulnerability Assessments and Analyses conducted by her office in all 14 regions between May and July this year.
The assessments were conducted as required by Section 13 of the Disaster Risk Management Act, 2012 (Act No. 10 of 2012), to gather and analyse data on livelihood and food security for the 2023/24 period.
This data is crucial to inform policy and to comprehend the threats posed by natural and socioeconomic disasters to food and nutrition security.
