Government has received K515 million drought assistance from the United States government through the United States Agency for International Development- (USAID) to flag off the first truckload of food as part of the humanitarian assistance grant to the World Food Programme.
Speaking at the launch of the food security drought response assistance project,Vice-President Mutale Nalumango said the project would help to facilitate the provision of emergency food assistance thereby mitigating the effects of drought.
Mrs Nalumango said the project would also reduce food insecurity and prevent malnutrition among the most vulnerable population in Zambia.
“The purpose of the project is to make Zambians strong enough to stand on their own feet,” said Mrs Nalumango.
She thanked the U.S. government for the continued support during the drought crisis in Zambia.
Meanwhile, United States Ambassador to Zambia, Michael Gonzales said the K515 million is part of the more than K2.6 billion already pledged to Zambia to address the current drought, to strengthen food security and help improve policies.
Mr. Gonzales said that in addition to the funding, the U.S. is providing $32 billion U.S dollars to help improve policies across different sectors to ensure Zambia images from the drought with productive and more nutritious crops .
He dded that over a decade the US government has been a champion in the fight against hunger, poverty and malnutrition working to build global food security systems that enable rural families farm to meet the whole nutritional needs.