Nearly 200,000 people in Same District, Kilimanjaro Region, are facing acute shortage of food and require immediate relief supplies.
Same District Commissioner Ibrahim Marwa said that a government survey in the area last November showed that the number of people who needed immediate food relief was 200,000.
He said up to November 2009, the district had received a total of 4,588.8 tonnes of food relief from the Prime Minister’s Office (Disaster Management Department).
He added that about 4,262.2 tonnes of food were sold to people in the area at the price of 50/- per kg and 326.6 tonnes were distributed freely to vulnerable groups and needy people.
The DC said the amount of food supplied included assistance from other stakeholders such as the World Food Programme and religious organizations.
However, Marwa said that food shortages were caused by inadequate rains in almost the entire district, which led to very poor harvests for almost three consecutive years.
According to him, livestock were also affected for lack of grazing areas, forcing pastoralists to move their cattle to the neighbouring districts of Handeni, Korogwe and Lushoto in Tanga Region.
He said the district's strategies to curb food shortages included encouraging farmers to embark on planting drought-resistant crops, employ modern farming methods as well as engaging in mixed farming.
Others are irrigation farming, especially in wards such as Ruvu, Kisiwani, Maore, Hedaru, Kihurio and Ndungu.
The district chief said for the 2009/2010 farming season, the district was set to plant different food crops on about 112,319 hectares of land, adding that the district expected to harvest about 107,813.5 tonnes of food crops.
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