Villagers in Mwenezi District are relieved following the introduction of resilience programmes by the World Food Program aimed at alleviating hunger ravaging most rural communities in Zimbabwe.
Working in collaboration with the government, the WFP and its partners have initiated programmes to assist people from the district through interventions which include the establishment of nutrition gardens and other integrated climate risk initiatives.
This has seen most families achieving sustainable food production.
Mwenezi in Zimbabwe's Region 4 and 5 is drought-prone and currently, 270 000 people there require food aid.
Abigail Mako (47) from Chikwakwala Village Ward 6, Rumwanjiva said the establishment of a nutrition garden has greatly improved her life.
"Now I can send my nine children to school without struggling. I am also able to give them a balanced diet.
"I have a lot of things I have always wished to have in my house through selling vegetables.
"Now I don't have to ask for money from my husband all the time," she said in an interview.
WFP also distributed food to communities following an Africa Risk Capacity (ARC) insurance payout of US$6,1 million in support of the government's Food Deficit Mitigation strategy.
Beneficiaries received food to last them the next two months with an individual getting 17 kgs of grains, 3,4 kg of pulses and 1,2 litres of cooking oil.
The beneficiaries however urged the government to continue supporting them.
"It is our prayer that we continue getting the assistance until we get to the end of the 2024-2025 farming season," said a beneficiary Tariro Chiteto,47 from Tagwireyi Village in the Chingwizi area.
ARC Replica Programme in Zimbabwe, implemented by WFP, is an innovative disaster risk management initiative that helps the country respond to climate shocks like droughts, which impact food security.
Through this programme, WFP purchases climate insurance on behalf of the government, enabling rapid access to funds when droughts occur based on rainfall deficits.
This funding allows for early interventions such as food distribution and cash transfers to protect vulnerable populations.
In 2024 the Government of Zimbabwe received an insurance payout of US$ 16. 8 million following its participation in the African Risk Capacity (ARC) Group disaster financing mechanism.
Through the Replica programme, an initiative which allows humanitarian actors to purchase insurance policies on behalf of a country, Replica partners, the United Nations, WFP and Start Network received payouts of US$6.1 million and US$8.9 million respectively.
With the funds from the insurance payout, WFP is conducting food distributions in three districts which include Buhera, Mangwe and Mwenezi supporting over 272,000 people with cereals, pulses and vegetable oil for two months.
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Mwenezi District Development Coordinator, Isaac Mutambara applauded development partners for supporting hungry communities.
"With this drought, we have 143 000 people of our people receiving food assistance with 97 000 people being catered for by WFP through Mwenezi Development Training Centre.
"With the interventions of the government, the situation is improving.
"Government is climate proofing agriculture, drilling boreholes so people and livestock can have water. Some have solarised boreholes," he said.
Another initiative is the Zambuko Livelihoods Initiative (Zambuko) promotes an integrated approach to resilience building through improving smallholder farmers' production, management of community resources and access to finance and markets to decrease vulnerabilities to recurrent crises.
The initiative aims to strengthen and expand on-farm and off-farm livelihood opportunities so that households will be less vulnerable to recurrent crises.
