Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
The Zambia Red Cross has flagged off the distribution agriculture inputs worth K320,000 to 500 of the over 300,000 households in Kazungula and Sesheke districts in southern province affected by last year’s poor harvest.
Speaking during the flag off in Lusaka today, Zambia Red Cross Society National President Ambassador Godfrey Simasiku says the agriculture inputs are meant to enable households engage in alternative crop production such as gardening and small livestock rearing as alternative sources of food.
Ambassador Simasiku says the Zambia Red Cross Society believes that the initiative will provide for longer sustainable measures of enabling households to access food.
He further states that in view of the climate changes Zambia and other countries are experiencing, it is time for the country to invest in a number of mitigating factors as well as plan on how these disasters can be avoided, noting that some of them are avoidable.
And speaking earlier, Zambia Red Cross Society Acting National Secretary Patricia Nambuka says though the support is not enough to cover all the affected districts, they are still negotiating with other potential partners to see if they can come to their aid.
And in a speech read on his behalf by policy and monitoring Director Anderson Banda, Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) National Coordinator Patrick Kangwa says government is delighted that key players like the Zambia Red Cross Society are taking steps to complement its efforts in reducing the impact of food insecurity for those affected by last season’s partial drought.