Government has today started dispatching 48,000 metric tonnes (MT) of relief food to Malawi and Zimbabwe as part of the U$D2.4 billion Southern African Development Community (SADC) humanitarian appeal for ‘hunger stricken’ countries.
Officially flagging off the GRZ/WFP Humanitarian Relief SADC Operation at the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) depot in Lusaka today, Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) National Co-ordinator Patrick Kangwa said Zambia being part of the global community is mandated to render support to its neighbouring countries that are in need.
Mr. Kangwa disclosed President Edgar Lungu has allowed the exportation of maize as part of Zambia’s contribution to the affected countries.
He said government has put in place the Humanitarian Logistic Committee to resolve operations that impede the movement of maize into and out of Zambia.
“Government of Zambia shall continue to assist in any way possible to mitigate the sufferings of our brothers and sisters in the region affected by dry spells and drought,” said Kangwa.
ZANIS reports that the DMMU National Co-ordinator assured that government has got enough maize stocks for local consumption and has since advised the public not to panic.
He commended the international donors and cooperating partners for partnering with government in rendering support to Malawi and Zimbabwe.
And speaking at the same occasion, United Nations World Food Programme Country Director Simon Cammelbeeck disclosed that the agency was spending US$250,000 to transport one-tonne of the grain.
Mr. Cammelbeeck further disclosed that US, Sweden, Netherlands and the Internal Monetary Fund (IMF0 are among the donors that have rendered support the SADC humanitarian appeal.
He said his organization and government has engaged Transporters association of Zimbabwe as well as J and J to haul the maize from Zambia.
An estimated 40 million people are in dire need of humanitarian assistance in Southern Africa among them neighbouring Malawi, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
SADC has developed a regional transportation plan whose major goal is to streamline and facilitate the processing of relief consignments meant for countries within the region.
The humanitarian assistance has been brought about due to severe el-nino induced worst drought and prolonged dry spell affecting the SADC region in 35 years.
I hope this is the surplus; because we have our own citizens who are going hungry.
I just had Rice, Sausages and vegetables.
I stopped eating Nshima, and or maize, it has an impact on life span. No wonder people die early.
Who on earth damn cares about Malawi and or Zimbabwe food staple
I am in Glasgow Scotland and I am eating better food, breathing better air and using underground stations trains and buying in Marks and Spencer, Primark.
I feel sorry for people that live and die in Zambia and never had a chance to come abroad. I think its almost a little bit bad luck in life sort of thing
Thanks
BB2014
I hope our lazy President knows what he is doing.
@ The chosen one you have a point.
Do we have enough to give out? Kafwaulula at FRA has failed to buy maize this year and we are giving out our reserves
All that money in hands of these Zambians?????
This will be another scandal.
What about Zambia’s hungry!
@Nubian Princess; I see you have an alter ego. I don’t know if you meant to keep it under wraps because if you did, you forgot to change you gravatar!
Yaba…The Southerners, Westerners, Northwesterners, and part of central province did the farming. The rest were busy being tribal and paddling hate messages. Now Siliti and Chameno are exporting the maize.
Reply
@Mushota, you clearly have no sense of humor. Tuma boasting twaupuba coma busy kukolopa vimbuzi uko.
I have also noticed here in South Africa most people who boast like Mushota are not even well to do.
If our friends need help and it is within our means to help then Zambia can help.
@Mushota is not as rich as she flaunts. When you are extremely wealthy, the last thing you do is flaunt it. What this miserable blogger is doing shows a depraved poverty mindset. Kudo’s to GRZ for being part of the humanitarian effort. Remember, “values count more than @Mushota’s vanity”.
One day you will lie in your deathbed even if you refrain from chowing pulp.
This is Lugu paying his bastard father for giving him the election. Zambians will soon starve while Zimbabweans laugh. What about processing and selling it like HH suggested.
@Mushota I’m in London and you have just spouted off a lot of bull. Sausages are processed meat high in saturated fats and are probably some of the most dangerous things to pass your lips. The food we eat here is full of preservatives which are not good for you. the meat is pumped full of water and frying it is like boiling it because the water just flows out during cooking. Also it has been stored for close to a month before it hits the supermarkets and then its in there for another couple of weeks before you buy it. In Africa the food is fresh and tasty, sunshine almost all year round, the air in Africa is less polluted than your Glasgow soup and it is HOME. You just have been whitewashed into thinking you got it good. Sweety you’re suffering and you don’t even know it (also known as…
sad for zimbabwe once a FOOD_BASKET now a major beneficiary of AID from neighbors.life is a journey.
Exactly. Life is a journey – full of lessons.
@Mushota
You write like an illiterate. One reason is probably because you spend too much time online.
Read the classics and stop making Inane comments on LT.
God bless you.
really sad next is us Zambians;
From our bumper harvests we are able to support Hichilema’s relatives in Zimbabwe and even GBM’s ungrateful relatives from Mozambique.
Go PF! Party of progress
So you think this is free…read the article again and see who id funding it!!
kudos ectually it is the presidents relatives in Malawi not GBM s or HH. In fact HH is from the bantu batatwe not a half caste like you and me with our parents intermarrying;
Let’s give our brothers and sisters the needed assistance. Just as we helped in the years of freedom struggle so shall it be.
And what you benefit, only scorn from Zimbabweans.
Why not give them pa nkongole (credit). Like to pay within 20yrs. There is nothing for nothing….!!
Mushota walisamwa..
This is part of a larger election scum.Pay back time for Lungu to mugabe and Mutarika.A bag of meal meal cost K97 and we are expoting.what a shame.Soon it will be zambia in hunger due to poor planning.
What about those stats that say Zambia is the most poverty stricken country on earth, is that a fact? I find it hard to believe.
Foolishness at it’s best. Zimbabwe will recover once Mugabe leaves power and will leave us behind in poverty as a country. We will always be laughing stock.
Mushota, you have a very big problem. I am in Europe as well studying but will definitely go back home. Please just enjoy your life and leave those who will never live Zambia alone.
“Country Director Simon Cammelbeeck disclosed that the agency was spending US$250,000 to transport one-tonne of the grain”. NOW IF THIS IS NOT AN ERROR, THEN I SUGGEST THAT NOBLE AGENCY VISITS THE DEPART OF ECONOMICS TO UNDERSTAND SIMPLE COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS. HOW DO YOU SPEND QUARTER A MILLION DOLLARS TO TRANSPORT ONE TON OF GRAIN?
And 1 truck can carry up to 60 tones. This would mean paying 15 million per truck per trip. If this is true then please hire GBM’S trucks so that he can recover the money he spent on unfruitful elections and cool down.
Government has today started dispatching 48,000 metric tonnes (MT) of relief food to Malawi and Zimbabwe as part of the U$D2.4 billion Southern African Development Community (SADC) humanitarian appeal for ‘hunger stricken’ countries.
Read that and understand where this is coming from. Our Zimbabwean neighbors are starving. In Zambia we have enough greedy “GREEDY” rich people to feed the masses. Alas they do not want to share.
Very soon these international agencies will have had enough of bailing out tin pot dictators that have ruined their countries economies by their incompetence, corruption and selfish greed.
Let’s hope that when Zambia gets to the Zimbabwe stage they will still remember this.
In the meantime Zambians can continue borrowing Euro Bonds to pay for subsidised fertilizer and our neighbours see cheap maize at our children’s expense.
The cost of transportation is exergerated US$250,000 A TONNE? u SEE WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT CORRUPTION DONT LEAVE OUT DONORS MR CAMEL zimbabwe is only 600km utmost from ZED IF BY ROAD SAY us$10 per km comes to US$6000 FOR A 20TONNE TRUCK SO ONE TONNE COSTS US$300 cAN U ELABORATE FURTHER OTHERWISE ZAMBIANS WILL BE BLAMING MY PARTY FOR EMBEZZLEMENT OF FUNDS
Mushota I smuck you. Tell them what living is. Ulukungu mu lusaka. Anyway we like it that way. How can we know otherwise? We smuck mediocrity.
Our Father in Heaven forgive us in Zambia if we foregate to thank you for blessing us with a bumper harvest in the midst of regional hunger that has not spared any other country except Zambia. Thank you for the declaration of Zambia a Christian nation. Thank you for peace before during & after the elections. Thank you also for giving us a Christian President who has gone further to create a government ministry to strengthen relationship between the Church & state. I pray that we never foregate as a nation your hand in these Blessings & favour. You forever remain our God & our Master in Zambia. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen!
Boasting with the rice grown in Africa ka mambala. We don’t eat that rice since we know how we grow it here. Its for morons in Glasgow who Dont farm
Yet we got the masses here who don’t have food and Chakolwa is busy trying to portray to the outside world like we got pretty of food.
DOES THIS PF GOVERNMENT THINK WELL? I AM A FARMER AND WHO LIVES IN RURAL. SOUTHERN, LUSAKA CENTRAL, WESTERN PART OF EASTERN PROVINCE EXPERIENCED DROUGHTS. WHEN ONE SAYS BUMPER HARVEST YOU MUST LOOK ON HOW MANY FARMERS HAVE GIVEN MAIZE TO FRA?
WE HAVE ALL VOWED NOT TO TAKE OUR MAIZE TO FRA IF ANY THEN IT IS LITTLE BECAUSE WE HAVE NO FOOD AT ALL. ZAMBIA NEEDS SEROUS AND TRUE LEADERS WHO UNDERSTAND FARMING.
God bless Zambia! This spirit has been with us for years from KK’s time. One party and its tribal group always sees negative in everything! You are losers and will NEVER be rulers in Zambia.
Like Dora Silya?
Too much Jamesoni cooks brains.
Hakashide has Privatised ZWD for misleading him that He was the Incoming Zambian President
“He said his organization and government has engaged Transporters association of Zimbabwe as well as J and J to haul the maize from Zambia.” – rubbish indeed!! We allow our maize to be transported by foreigners when our own transporters are crying for business! When are we going to grow out of this mediocrity and realise that government has a duty to look for and create business opportunities for its citizens?!
He is giving business to his white friends in Zimbabwe. Just look at the rate he is paying them per tonne
The Tongas did the farming and now Dora and Lungu are exporting the maize with pride. Why don’t they export cassava from Luapula and nothingness from Northern? The maize belt did the farming while most of us Bembas were busy calling Southerners Cowthern. Where is the pride?
@22 Mama,check your stats well and realise that maize production figures have been growing in other provinces too.It is no longer Southern alone that produces large quantities of maize.In fact rainfall patterns have changed thereby reducing yields in Southern. Central,CB,Northern and Muchinga have picked on terms of maize production.
The Southerners, Westerners, Northwesterners, and part of central province did the farming. The rest were busy being tribal and paddling hate messages. Now Siliti and Chameno are exporting the maize.
@23 Mama,you are living in the old Zambia!The maize belt is now shifting following the “rain belt”!! Since when did Western province produce more maize than Northern or even Luapula? Yes Southern used to and still leads in some good years but with reduced rain they are trailing behind central (mainly northern parts of Central province).NWestern has great potential but they have not realized it yet.Eastern too produces significant quantities of maize,so does CB,Northern and Muchinga.Wake up baaba! !Zambia has left you behind.
Wanting to please you neighbour when you kid are starving.The best thing to do is say sorry neighbour ,I dont have enough or else my family will die,try to ask from others.That food would have made more supply and demand less ,hence cheap price for people to afford
Not a good idea. Instead the govt should have momentarily lifted the ban on maize exports to our two neighbors. By so doing, our brethren would have earned the much needed food we’ve denied them through the ban; and us, the much sought after dollar. The two govts have the money to purchase our food, or their presidents won’t be looking so sparkly.
Those are the people who voted for no vision lungu
Interesting, very interesting indeed! So we have got the capacity to help? We are used to being helped.Then maize here in Zambia is supposed to be very cheap since we have got the “capacity” to help other nations.
CORRECTION ITS NOT RELIEF FOOD ITS PAYING BACK FROM THE MONEY HE GOT DURING ELECTIONS
Helping our neighbours is ok but it is hypocritical,ambigous and cambersome to send maize brand when prices of mealie meal are too high locally.Start with cotrolling prices of the commodity then us citizens will believe that we have excess to even help our neighbours.
“…..government has engaged Transporters association of Zimbabwe as well as J and J to haul the maize from Zambia”
Why can’t we give business to our own transporters?!
Mushota, How’s Nick?
What of Congo Dr have we Left some maize for them?