Over One Hundred hectares of maize fields have been submerged in Libonda ward of Liuwa constituency of Kalabo district, Western province.
Libonda ward Councillor, Musiyalela Musiyalela, has disclosed that about One Thousand peasant farmers in the locality have been affected by the flash floods that have engulfed the whole ward in the constituency.
Mr Musiyalela told ZANIS in an interview that there is looming hunger in the ward as the affected peasant farmers only depend on maize as their staple food.
The civic leader said people in his ward are facing difficulties in accessing food to feed their families as their only source of livelihood is fishing which has been curtailed because of a fish ban.
“There is urgent need for government through the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) to quicken the distribution of relief food to cushion the looming hunger before lives are lost in the ward, “Mr Musiyalela lamented.
And Kebby Kabisa of Makono royal village said the unexpected bursting of the Zambezi River has caused havoc to many farmers in the Bulozi plains.
Mr Kabisa said peasant farmers in the area could not manage to salvage their crops as the flow of water from the mighty Zambezi River was unexpected.
He said the most affected areas in the ward included Libonda Royal palace of Her Chieftaincy Mboanjikana, Namweti, Makono, Ikatulamwa, Mukola and Mwandi among others.
Meanwhile, Ibonda ward Councillor, Musiyalela Musiyalela, has disclosed that about 1,000 peasant farmers in the locality have been affected by the flash floods that have engulfed the whole ward in the constituency.
Mr Musiyalela told ZANIS in an interview that there is looming hunger in the ward as the affected peasant farmers only depended on maize as their staple food.
The civic leader said people in his ward are facing difficulties in accessing food to feed their families adding that their once source of livelihood which was fishing has been curtailed as government has imposed a fish ban in the province.
“There is urgent need for government through the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) to quicken the distribution of relief food to cushion the looming hunger before lives are lost in the ward, “Mr Musiyalela lamented.
And Mr. Kebby Kabisa of Makono royal village said the unexpected bursting of the Zambezi River has caused havoc to many farmers in the Bulozi plains.
Mr Kabisa said peasant farmers in the area could not manage to salvage their crops as the flow of water from the mighty Zambezi River was unexpected.
He said the most affected areas in the ward included Libonda Royal palace of Chieftaincy Mboanjikana, Namweti, Makono, Ikatulamwa, Mukola and Mwandi among others.
The situation across the nation is actually quite bad, too much rainfall is going to affect this years harvest. I dont think we will achieve a bumoer harbest as we did last season. There are areas where farmers had farmed in Luapula, Northern and Muchinga that have been flooded for almost a month now and all that maize has been damaged.
I strongly appeal to the FRA not to sell maize to the millers until July or August because we dont know how this years harvest will be and the signs are not good at all.
That is an exaggeration! 100 Ha destroyed cannot cause hunger. 19,000 bags of maize lost can easily be replaced.
A very sad ? situation this for the people of Kalabo…
We hope that the people in the area will be assisted accordingly