Chama North lawmaker raises the alarm, seeks govt relief, as district faces food crisis

Chama district ,Zambia’s eastern province is facing severe hunger as the result of man-animal conflict, floods, droughts and invasion of army worms.

Chama North constituency law maker Yotam Mtayachalo said the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) should urgently come to the aid of starving villagers before many areas are cut off completely from the rest of the district because of lack of all weather roads.

“Following my visit to the constituency I would like to take this opportunity to make an earnest appeal to the Vice President’s office to urgently consider allocating more relief food to the people of Chama in the eastern province before people die of starvation,” Mtayachalo said.

He said in a statement on Friday that the most affected areas his constituency are Kamphemba, Mwalala,Kaozi,Kalinkhu, Luangwa,Manthepa,Ndunda, Nkhankha,mpalalusenga and Chisunga wards.

Also read:https://www.zambiamonitor.com/low-crop-yields-feared-in-eastern-province-as-pests-invade-farmlands/

He said the district needs an allocation of 18000 x 50kg bags of maize which can be distributed as relief food as he further requested the government to allocate more maize for community sales for those who can afford to buy until the next harvesting period.

Yotam Mtayachalo said he was hopeful the government would respond positively and expeditiously in regard to the matter to prevent people from starvation.

“It does not make sense for people to starve when the district has enough maize stocks in the FRA depot so that they can concentrate on cultivating their fields instead of wandering about looking for food elsewhere,” he said.