THE United States of America (US) government has given Mumbezhi Cooperative Society more than K100 million for the expansion and boosting of farming activities at Meheba Refugee Camp.

The K109, 365, 200 grant would be through the procurement of small-scale motorised equipment and irrigation materials.

The grant was expected to expand economic opportunities and improve the standard of living at the refugee settlement and surrounding communities.

This is according to a statement released from the US embassy last week.

Mumbezhi cooperative society is an agricultural organisation consisting of refugees and local Zambians at Meheba Refugee Settlement, the largest settlement in Zambia with nearly 18, 000 refugees from Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Somalia.

US Embassy Refugee Coordinator Rob Romanowski said the refugees who had been uprooted from their homes faced numerous challenges as they struggle to renew their lives.

"To help preserve their dignity, we look for ways to improve their lives and as we have seen, increasing productivity in agriculture is one of the quickest ways to lift people out of poverty," Mr Romanowski said.

US Embassy Public Affairs Officer Pricilla Hernandez said the cooperative initiative served as an example of how refugees and Zambians could benefit from working together in commercial enterprise and how local organisations and Government agencies working with the refugee community could raise the living standards of the broader community.