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Amidst gloomy statistics showing that the war in Ukraine has left many Africans grappling with soaring inflation and Covid-19-induced economic hardships that have affected countries like Zimbabwe, Dost Eli of Turkey has distributed food hampers to more than 400 families in Darwendale.
Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina, the President of the African Development Bank recently opined that Africa now faces a shortage of at least 30 million metric tons of food—especially wheat, maize, and soybean imported from Russia and Ukraine.
“Fertilizer price hikes of over 300% make it increasingly difficult for African farmers to grow enough wheat, maize, rice, and other crops. A growing number of people in Africa can no longer afford the price of bread.
“Africa is struggling to mitigate a conflict-induced famine that could throw some 30 million Africans into catastrophic levels of food insecurity. It could deepen economic stress and political unrest. With millions struggling to buy food, fuel, and fertilizer, anti-government protests are a real possibility,” Dr. Adesina said.
The Guest of Honour during the food distribution exercise in Dawendale, the Director of Dost Eli, Mevlut Yildirim, reiterated his organisation’s commitment to addressing food challenges faced by Zimbabweans.
“As sister republics, Turkey and Zimbabwe enjoy cordial relations. Our areas of cooperation span the economic, religious, social, and cultural realms hence as an organisation, we deemed it fit to pool resources and help the needy people of Zimbabwe with some food handouts. We also believe that it is also important to empower the local communities so that is the reason why our sister organisation, TIKA, also embarked on a farming project in the Mashonaland West province in a bid to ensure food security,” Yildirim said.
The coordinator of the food distribution exercise, Adam Wadi, paid tribute to the Republic of Turkey for allowing its nationals and organisations to collaborate with Zimbabwe on development programmes.
“I would like to thank the Republic of Turkey for participating meaningfully in Zimbabwe’s development initiatives. It’s heart-warming to see Turkish organisations collaborating with Zimbabwean communities in the areas of religion and cultural exchanges as well as empowerment projects like borehole drilling and food distribution,” Wadi said.
The food hampers were distributed at Motsi in Mashonaland West Province where 200 people benefitted with a target of reaching out to 400 families. The same number of people also benefited at Nyatsanga and Venda in Darwandale.
The food hamper was made up of 2kg sugar, 2kg flour, 2kg rice, 2 litres of cooking oil, 1kg of green bar soap, 500 grams of tea leaves, 2 litres Mazowe drink, 2kg of salt, and 1kg Chunks.