News / Regional
Government cancels grain loan scheme for Gwanda
31 Jan 2014 at 12:47hrs | Views
The government has immediately stopped the grain loan scheme to all 23 wards of Gwanda District with immediate effect.
Information received from the Gwanda Rural District Council is that the Ministry of Agriculture through the District Administrator's office has circulated a memorandum to all councillors advising them of the suspension of the feeding programme. The programme has been in place since 2008 and has been coming in handy in feeding the communities that have been facing low yields due to persistent droughts. No immediate reason is given in the Memo on why the scheme has been suspended and why Gwanda District is the first one if not the only one to face the suspension.
The grain loan scheme has always been a very thorny issue in most rural areas as the grain was always distributed on political party lines with ruling Zanu-PF members getting preference. Zanu-PF has also always been accused of using the grain loan scheme as a vote buying bait. Councillors have traditonally been tasked with the distribution of the grain. Gwanda Rural District Council has 23 wards which have over the years have been dominated by Zanu-PF. In the current council, the opposition has only 9 councillors all coming from Gwanda North and Zanu-PF holding on to the rest from Gwanda South and Central.
Councillors are as at the time of writing in a hot full council meeting as they are trying to seek clarity why the scheme has been cancelled. The opposition councillors are the most infuriated as they claim that the Zanu-PF councillors are not worried as they will still enjoy access to several other Zanu-PF feeding schemes like the presidential grain which are accessed via the Zanu-PF offices. The only feeding scheme now left in place in Gwanda District is the Red Cross one where grain is sold for $25 per 50 kg bag according to reports from council.
The councillors are pleading government to extend the scheme at least until June when the people are expected to have completed their harvest.
Information received from the Gwanda Rural District Council is that the Ministry of Agriculture through the District Administrator's office has circulated a memorandum to all councillors advising them of the suspension of the feeding programme. The programme has been in place since 2008 and has been coming in handy in feeding the communities that have been facing low yields due to persistent droughts. No immediate reason is given in the Memo on why the scheme has been suspended and why Gwanda District is the first one if not the only one to face the suspension.
Councillors are as at the time of writing in a hot full council meeting as they are trying to seek clarity why the scheme has been cancelled. The opposition councillors are the most infuriated as they claim that the Zanu-PF councillors are not worried as they will still enjoy access to several other Zanu-PF feeding schemes like the presidential grain which are accessed via the Zanu-PF offices. The only feeding scheme now left in place in Gwanda District is the Red Cross one where grain is sold for $25 per 50 kg bag according to reports from council.
The councillors are pleading government to extend the scheme at least until June when the people are expected to have completed their harvest.
Source - Byo24News
