CCJDP comes to the rescue

ONCE again, the Catholic Church, through its Development Commission of the Catholic Centre for Justice, Development and Peace (CCJDP), was moved by compassion to help the millions of God’s precious children who were faced with starvation, following a failed 2004-2005 rainy season. The Church has responded by mobilising funds to purchase food stuffs and seed for the hunger stricken areas of Zambia.

As a result of the glaring food shortage, especially in the remote areas where CCJDP works through diocesan teams, it was found necessary and prudent to mobilise funds to purchase food and seed. The relief food and seeds purchased is meant to provide a cushion to the affected households during the lean period November 2005 to March 2006 when the next season harvest will be ready.  

In the 2005/06-consumption season, the country endured a food deficit of 85,000 Metric tonne of maize, the national staple food crop. This national food deficit was attributed to partial drought experienced in the 2004/05-rain season, which caused severe stress in most crops leading to poor harvest. The food deficit affected over 1. 2 million people by March 2006. In response to this food shortage, the Government, through the Office of the Vice President Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit sourced some relief food to give to the affected people but the supply was inadequate and erratic.  

In order to complement Government strategies in mitigating the impact of the food shortage on the vulnerable groups, CCJDP developed an emergency intervention proposal for US$1. 5 million to purchase 4,050 Mt Maize grain, 270 Mt Beans, 99 Mt seeds, farming tools and rehabilitate 35 water wells to serve 18,000 households (144,000 persons). All the relief commodities have been sourced within the country and the project has been carried out in 5 of the 10 Catholic Dioceses experiencing food shortage during the lean period November, 2005 to March 2006. This relief intervention is community-based. 

Food Security 

The cry by every caring Zambian is to see a Zambian society which is food secure as the country has more than abundant natural resources which would enable it to even feed neighbouring countries. Thus, under the on-going CCJDP crop diversification strategy, seeds of drought tolerant crops are procured and given to farmers practising conservation farming or those who have been trained in conservation farming. The seeds have been given on loan and the seed recoveries are retained by the community in their cereal banks for distribution to local members of the community. 

In Monze Diocese (Southern Province), the Catholic Church is promoting the restocking of livestock, communal food storage and household irrigation. Under the restocking exercise, cattle and goats are distributed to identified and trained members of the community who in turn pass on the offspring of those animals to other families within the community. The Diocese is also promoting the keeping of produce within the communities in grain banks so that the people have enough food during the lean periods. When produce is kept communally, it is easier for communities to negotiate better prices at which to sell.

Beneficiaries 

The beneficiaries include the aged, terminally ill, widowed and child-headed households and the physically handicapped. However, the assistance has been extended to able–bodied but vulnerable households who would otherwise be productive.  

The relief commodities are being distributed under two main categories. The first category is that of “Food for Work”. This covers recipients who are in able-bodied households but are vulnerable, particularly orphans and the aged. These participate in community initiated projects before they are given relief commodities. 

The physically – disabled, who can not take part in physical work including the aged, HIV/ Aids patients and under-age orphans are given the relief food and seed for free. 

This relief intervention is treated as a supplementary ration and hence each household is given 50kg grain maize and 5 kg beans per month. The beneficiary households are given seeds on loan and will pay back at harvest time. The seed recoveries will be kept by the local community in their cereal banks. The proportion of recoveries will be determined by the Diocesan Committees in conjunction with the Parish and Community Committees.