Government
yesterday received part of the 19 000 tonnes of rice from China after 5
500 tonnes was delivered to Grain Marketing Board's Aspindale depot in
Harare, as measures to alleviate food insecurity intensify. The Chinese
Government also pledged to provide 10 000 tonnes of urea fertiliser to
Government as a way of boosting the Command Agriculture programme which
aims to produce 2 million tonnes of maize on 400 000 hectares of land
.
The donation, which
was received by Public Service, Labour and SoChipingecial Welfare
Minister Prisca Mupfumira, comes as the country is facing acute food
shortages that have been exacerbated by the devastating El Niño-induced
drought.
Speaking after
receiving the consignment at Aspindale, Minister Mupfumira said the
Chinese gesture is a response to the appeal for humanitarian assistance
made to the domestic and international community.
"Currently
Government is assisting over 600 000 food insecure households,
approximately 3 000 000 people, with maize grain," she said.
"The Food Deficit
Mitigation Strategy programme has two components, those labour
constrained households getting free food while those labour endowed
participating in community public works projects before receiving their
grain." Minister Mupfupfumira said it is
the State's responsibility, through the Social Welfare Assistance Act
and various statutory instruments, to ensure that the vulnerable and
ultra-poor households receive social protection services.
She said her
ministry could not do it alone, thus an enabling environment had been
put in place to accommodate assistance from other Governments,
Non-Government Organisations and developmental partners such as United
Nations Development Programme and World Food Programme.
Present to receive
the donation was Health and Child Care Minister David Parirenyatwa. The
Health Ministry received 100 tonnes, while the Zimbabwe Prisons and
Correctional Services got 50 tonnes.
Other beneficiaries
were Danhiko Children's Home and Jairosi Jiri who received five tonnes;
Kasipiti, Chirchester and Society for the Destitute Aged (2 tonnes
each); Harare, Bumhudzo, Breaside and Chinyaradzo children's homes
(three tonnes each).
Chinese Ambassador
to Zimbabwe Mr Huang Ping said the donation was part of the outcome of
delivering President Xi Jinping's pledge of $25 million worth of rice to
help Zimbabwe cope with food shortages as well as strengthen the
bilateral relations existing between the two nations.
Ambassador Huang
said China understood the importance of agriculture in Zimbabwe and
donated 10 000 tonnes of urea fertiliser which they would make sure is
delivered to the farmers before the rain season begins.
"Today's donation
of rice is part of the outcome of President Xi Jinping's visit to
Zimbabwe and the FOCAC Johannesburg Summit last December during which
President Xi announced that China will provide one billion renminbi
(Chinese currency) in emergency food aid to augment the poor harvests
African countries affected by the EI-Nino, including Zimbabwe reaped.
"China-Zimbabwe
agricultural cooperation is facing new golden opportunities as they are
working on plans to further promote our win-win bilateral agricultural
cooperation such as expanding the exports of Zimbabwe's agriculture
products to China," he said.
Cabinet Ministers,
Deputy Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, principal directors and
representatives from different organisations attended the function.
No comments:
Post a Comment