ZIMBABWE: More vulnerable added to feeding scheme

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

JOHANNESBURG, 1 Dec 2004 (IRIN) - The development agency Save the Children is to provide food aid to almost 25,000 vulnerable people in northern Zimbabwe.

The distributions, to begin in the third week of December, will target "social welfare cases, including the elderly and HIV/AIDS-affected households in the districts of Binga [Matabeleland North province] and Nyaminyami [Mashonaland West province] in the Zambezi valley," Chris McIvor, Save the Children's programme director, told IRIN.

The two districts are among the poorest in Zimbabwe. According to an assessment conducted by Save the Children earlier this year, chronic malnutrition in Binga is high, with almost 30 percent of children stunted.

Food aid in the form of maize meal and cooking oil, with corn-soya blend as a supplementary feed for children, will be distributed until the end of April next year, according to McIvor.

As part of its two-year plan to make the residents of the valley self-sufficient, Save the Children will also provide a safety net of agricultural inputs to 15,000 vulnerable families. "We are ensuring that woman- and child-headed households are covered in these interventions," McIvor said.

Earlier this year, Save the Children organised seed fairs to ensure that all farmers had access to agricultural inputs. Due to a shortage of cereal seeds in Zimbabwe, the NGO will be distributing vegetable seeds packets to supplement the communities' food requirements.

[ENDS]