By Chisomo Kambandanga

NKhata Bay, July 4, Mana: Group Village Head (GVH) Ngombo in the area of Senior Chief Malanda in NKhata Bay has called upon well-wishers to support flood survivors with farm inputs for winter cropping as a recovery strategy to avert looming hunger.

The Chief made the call on Wednesday when Youth Empowerment Towards Development (YOTED) was making a donation to some households affected by floods in 2023/2024 rainy season.

"We are grateful for continued support that various stakeholders are giving to flood survivors since a majority of them lost crops in their fields posing a threat of hunger.

"Let me call for support from well-wishers to support us with cassava cuttings, irish potato vines and fertilizer, among others, so that we can plant and start doing irrigation farming as we cannot just rely on receiving these food parcels up to the end of next farming season," Ngombo said.  

NKhata Bay District Disaster Risk Management Officer, Rachael Kamanga said provision of agriculture inputs to flood survivors is essential as it will enable them to venture into irrigation farming which can help reduce the burden of food shortage which has been created by floods.

In his remarks, Executive Director for YOTED, Yotam Ngwira urged communities living in flood prone areas to relocate to safer places.

With support from Australian based AfriAus iLEAC charity organisation, YOTED donated food and non-food items worth K3.4 million to 40 households.

Each of the selected households received 25 Kilograms of maize flour, five tablets of soap, two packets of sugar, beans and a plastic pail.