A long dry spell has wilted maize and cotton fields in Sinazongwe raising concern among the District Management Committee (DMC).
The District Management Committee is worried that the current weather pattern would result into crop failure.
Sinazongwe District Commissioner Laiven Apuleni said at the DMC meeting that the
district has not witnessed any serious rain for the past four weeks.
“There is going to be crop failure. The crops are basically drying up and the
district should not fold its arms because this is a serious problem and we are not
going to have it easy,” Mr Apuleni said.
A check by ZANIS at the maize fields revealed that most of crop had wilted while
maize that had reached tussling stage had withered.
The DC has since appealed to Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and the donors to
assist in the provision of relief food since Government has a difficult task of
assisting other districts which had floods.
Mr. Apuleni said Sinazongwe may not receive the attention it has been receiving
because Government is also constrained with resources to feed other districts.
Acting Senior Agriculture Officer Tundu Kaonga told the meeting that Sinazongwe
district would not expect any better yields this year because most of the crops has
wilted.
“We have very peculiar weather pattern here its unpredictable, there have been no
rains in February, and even when it rains next week it will not change anything
because the crops have already wilted,” Mr Kaonga said.
The Acting Senior officer disclosed that heavy rain that the district experienced in
January destroyed 160 hectors of maize fields and affected 123 households in Malima
and part of Nangoma area in Chief Sinazongwe area.
The district report on vulnerability of Sinazongwe population to food insecurity for
2006 and 2007 indicates that between January last year and March 2007, 2,184
hectares of fields were destroyed and three dams damaged.
Food relief requirement for the population at risk of food insecurity in the report
was estimated at 377.35 metric tonnes per month until this year’s harvest season.
Maamba Ward Councillor Peter Siavulwe called for declaration of Sinazongwe as
hunger- stricken area because people would have no food as a result of drought and
heavy rain that destroyed their crops.
