NKURENKURU – More than 30 000 beneficiaries in the Kavango West Region have received their monthly food parcels under the drought relief programme, since Friday.
About 39 000 households across all the eight constituencies in the region are beneficiaries of the drought relief programme. The programme distributes food parcels per household every month to cater for the basic needs of impoverished Namibians.
Matheus Hamutenya, spokesperson for the Kavango West Regional Council in an interview with Nampa on Monday, said their target number of beneficiaries stands at 39 925 and so far, 32 000 beneficiaries received their drought relief food parcels.
The food parcels contain a bag of maize meal (20kg), cooking oil (750ml) and three cans of fish.
In 2021, Namibia Poverty Mapping classified the Kavango West region as the poorest in Namibia with a headcount of 79.6% followed by Kavango East with 70%.
“Drought relief is making a difference in people’s lives, assisting those in need not to go hungry,” Hamutenya said, adding that the food is, however, not enough to feed larger families.
The spokesperson said their office has thus far not received complaints of people selling the drought relief food, noting that people turn up in big numbers every month to collect their parcels.
“We are looking forward to people to start improving their lives and give a chance to others who are not on the system or not yet registered to join and benefit also,” stressed Hamutenya.
One of the beneficiaries, 37-year-old Patricia Sikongo, who lives in Katwitwi settlement, said they appreciate the help they get through the programme.
“Our wish is for the government to consider increasing the content of the food parcels, especially the maize meal, for it to last longer, and do consultation with the people to know what kind of food we need because some food is not nice,” said Sikongo.
The government has so far injected N$1.5 billion in the drought relief programme during the 2023/2024 financial year, catering for 364 927 households countrywide.
-Nampa