Villagers resort to wild fruits as lack of funds delays food

Desperate villagers in Siavonga District in southern Zambia will have to wait up to three weeks before receiving much-needed government food aid, a senior official said on Thursday. Earlier this week drought-hit villagers called on the authorities to speed up food distribution in the area, complaining that households had already resorted to eating wild fruits as maize shortages worsened. Siavonga Cooperative Society chairperson Kakuba Kanyama told the local Times of Zambia newspaper that despite an assurance from the Disaster Mitigating Unit (DMU) in July that food relief was forthcoming, vulnerable families had yet to receive any of the promised rations. Kanyama said the cooperative had no food in its store, and the maize provided by the Salvation Army Church to stave off hunger had also been halted. According to the DMU, some 18,000 residents living in Siavonga would need around 1,772 mt of cereals over the next eight months. "Admittedly the deliveries should have happened last month, but we have been waiting for funds from the government to procure the cereals. It is hoped that within the next three weeks we can start with the distribution," DMU's national coordinator, Dominiciano Mulenga, told IRIN. More than 1.2 million people across Zambia are in need of food assistance, according to a Zambia Vulnerability Assessment Committee report, and the country needs at least 118,000 mt of cereal to bridge the food gap. "We are hoping that vulnerable households will draw on the coping strategies in the meantime," he said. "But we do recognise that the situation is a serious one, and have impressed upon the government the urgency of problem." The World Food Programme (WFP) in Zambia has meanwhile raised concern over funding shortages, which it said threatened ongoing operations. "In the Southern Province our coverage has only been about 35 percent, and although we would like to do more we are unable because of the lack of funds. This is of great concern, especially since we have not as yet reached the critical months," WFP deputy country director Peter Rodriguez said.