Maravi

Scott urges govt to take food stock

Scott urges govt to take food stock
By Inonge Noyoo
Monday March 24, 2008 [11:00]

LUSAKA Central Patriotic Front member of parliament Dr Guy Scott has called on the government to carry out an audit to determine how much food is available in the country. Contributing to debate before Parliament adjourned last Thursday, Dr Scott said there was need to know and determine the state of food in the country in view of the predicted food shortages arising from floods.

He urged the government to put strict measures that would ensure that food was not smuggled to neighbouring countries. Dr Scott said the smuggling of food when there is a looming food shortage in the country was dangerous.

"We will require concerted efforts from the members of parliament and the government to ensure that food remains in the country. We will also need to know how much food is available and in what state it is following reports of rotten maize in Chisamba," he said.

And Dr Scott wondered why only K15 billion was released out of the money allocated for floods.
He said there was need for the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit to release the rest of the money so that the infrastructure that was destroyed as a result of floods is rehabilitated.

Namwala UPND member of parliament Maj Richard Chizyuka also observed that the people of his constituency would require a lot of support from the government following crop destruction caused by floods.

He said seven out of 10 families in Namwala will have no food from now up to April next year.
Maj Chizyuka said the people of his constituency were peasant farmers who depended mainly on farming and may not survive the drought.

Labels: FOOD, GUY SCOTT, PF

posted by MrK @ 6:23 PM