LUSAKA, June 19 (Xinhua) -- The World Food Program (WFP) has approved a five-year country strategy plan to significantly support Zambia in boosting food security, a release on Wednesday said.
The 76 million U.S. dollars 2019-2024 plan endorsed last week by the WFP board will formally come into effect on July 1, 2019, the release said.
The plan seeks, among other things, to better address the root causes of malnutrition, improve responses to crises and shocks, including those caused by climate change, build the capacities and resilience of smallholder farmers and strengthen government-run social protection systems.
The release further said the WFP will see a strategic shift in its support from localized, micro-level schemes to holistic, integrated programs that tap the comparative advantages of state institutions, development partners, civil society and other key stakeholders to achieve national impact.
Michael Katambo, Zambia's Minister of Agriculture while noting that investments in food security in recent years have yielded positive results, noted that a lot still needs to be done to ensure that all citizens have access to adequate nutritious foods.
He commended the WFP's plan which will promote a shift towards nationally-owned solutions.
Jennifer Bitonde,WFP Representative in Zambia, said the plan also aims at facilitating the provision of immediate food needs to refugees, improving and expanding government nutrition programs, and strengthening the livelihood resilience of smallholder farmers.
"Within smallholder value chains, we will empower women to have greater control over household resources," she said.
WFP has worked in Zambia for more than 50 years and in 2018 it directly assisted 270,000 people, including schoolchildren, smallholders and refugees and indirectly supported 640,000 households that received social cash transfers.
