Hunger is looming in Pemba District in Southern Province following severe crop failure resulting from poor rainfall.
This came to light when a Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) team led by Deputy Minister in the Office of the Vice-President Harry Kalaba, accompanied by area United Party for National Development (UPND) Member of Parliament Mutinta Mazoka, toured some parts of the district on Wednesday.
Ms Mazoka described the situation as “terrible” and warned that people in the area would die of hunger if urgent measures were not put in place to address the situation.
Mr Kalaba said it was depressing to see people’s efforts go to waste owing to limited rains and assured that Government would not sit idle until the situation was brought under control.
“From Government’s perspective, what we have extrapolated is that Southern Province is the
most hit and indeed I have seen for myself that there is a very big problem here.
“If you can have a cob as thin as this then you know that there is a problem that you are going through,” he said.
He said currently, the vulnerability assessment committee was meeting to study the situation countrywide and that it was expected to visit the affected areas by next week to see what kind of assistance the Government should offer.
Mr Kalaba commended Ms Mazoka for her bold step to approach him and disclose the challenges her constituency was facing, saying it was imperative that politics was put aside when development was at play.
“What has brought us together is the issue of development. Development does not know the issue of political boundaries,” he said.
He urged people’s representatives such as councillors from opposition parties in the area to emulate Ms Mazoka by not feeling shy to approach any Government offices on matters that concerned the people as shunning them was to the disadvantage of the people they represented.
Mr Kalaba disclosed that when Ms Mazoka visited his office to discuss the suffering her constituents were facing, he asked her if she did not risk being expelled from her party for what might be viewed as working against the UPND.
However, the Pemba MP said what was important for her were the people she represented.
An affected farmer, Timothy Hampuwo said the entire Hamaundu chiefdom encompassing more than 200 villages had experienced severe crop failure as a result of the rains which he said started late and stopped early.
Mr Hampuwo, a former UPND Hamaundu Ward Councillor, said he had spent more than KR3,700 on his two-hectare piece of land to plant maize, sunflower and soya beans, which had all gone to waste.
Source: Times of Zambia
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