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The government reports that food insecurity in Zambia’s Southern and Western provinces is expected to increase due to reduced agricultural output caused by droughts.
Vice President, Mutale Nalumango, stated that the 2023-2024 crop assessment survey revealed that the Southern and Western provinces affected by the drought produced less than 80,000 metric tonnes, compared to the projected 145 million metric tonnes.
The Vice President made these remarks on Thursday in Lusaka during the flagging off of the first truckload of food, part of a K500 million drought assistance grant from USAID to the World Food Programme.
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“That shows a very serious drop in the production of our maize,” Nalumango mentioned.
She added that the hunger situation was expected to worsen in the upcoming rain season.
“We are entering what we call the ‘lean period,’ where there is generally not enough food for our people.”,” she stated.
The Vice President emphasized that this situation necessitated an integrated humanitarian response to address immediate food needs and restore productive capacities.
Also, Nalumango stressed the importance of the Food Security Drought Response Assistance in Zambia project.
“This is an important project generously funded by the United states of America through the USAID,” she said.
Meanwhile, U.S. Ambassador to Zambia, Michael Gonzales, pointed out that as the country navigated the crisis, it was crucial to focus on mitigating the situation.
“Understanding what brought us to the the crisis today, learning from it and addressing those dynamics is important,” Gonzales said.
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