GWERU, Zimbabwe, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- China has announced a contribution of 5 million U.S. dollars to Zimbabwe for resilience building among the rural communities.
Donated through the World Food Program (WFP) Zimbabwe, the money will benefit vulnerable communities in the country in 2017 and 2018, WFP country director Eddie Rowe said Monday at a joint press conference with Chinese ambassador to Zimbabwe, Huang Ping.
"We have just received information that the Chinese government will be contributing 5 million dollars through the multilateral platform to WFP Zimbabwe to go towards livelihoods enhancement, resilience building, and capacity enhancement for the different vulnerable districts in Zimbabwe," Rowe said.
The contribution by China comes after it donated one million U.S. dollars early this year to assist families affected by flooding in February.
Huang said China was providing the aid to enhance the capacity of rural communities in mitigating food shortages due to bad weather.
China last year also donated one million U.S. dollars to assist families facing hunger due to drought.
Rowe said the WFP used 40 percent of that amount to assist those in need of food aid while 60 percent was used to establish a water harvesting system and small scale agriculture scheme that will be launched by ambassador Huang on Tuesday in Zvishavane, Midlands Province.
Zimbabwe recorded a bumper maize harvest of 2.1 million tonnes this year, but it is estimated that 1.1 million people will still need food aid during the peak hunger season from January-March 2018.
Zimbabwe requires 1.8 million tonnes of the staple maize for consumption annually.
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