Saulos Chilima launches food distribution in Kasungu
Government, through the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (Dodma) has intensified distribution of relief food to hunger stricken areas to avert the looming crisis.
After launching the exercise in Nsanje and other districts in the Southern Region, the humanitarian aid response has now been rolled out in Kasungu District in the Central Region.
Vice President Saulos Chilima, who heads Dodma, launched the distribution exercise at Chazuna Admarc in Kasungu Central which will see 6 500 metric tonnes of rice donated by China going to hunger stricken Malawians.
China made the donation following President Peter Mutharika’s appeal for humanitarian assistance after a spate of natural disasters which affected 8.4 million people with 6.5 million people needing urgent relief food assistance.
“The 6.5 million people are spread in 24 districts and require a total of 349,385 tonnes of relief food between July, 2016 and March, 2017.
Kasungu is one of the districts in the Central Region that have been affected by the food shortage hence the choice to launch the distribution exercise here in Kasungu,” Chilima said.
Chilima said apart from distributing the rice donated by China, the people will also be given maize to encourage food diversification.
Chilima also appealed to the people for hard work so that in future, resources should be channeled to other developments other than relief food.
Chinese Ambassador to Malawi Shi Ting Wang said he was proud that China had fulfilled its promise to assist the people of Malawi for the humanitarian appeal.
“China always keeps its promise. With K7 billion we have donated 6500 metric tons of rice because the current hunger crisis is our concern as well,” he said.
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