Efforts underway to minimise food shortages in Palma – MediaFax

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Efforts underway to minimise food shortages in Palma – MediaFax

8:06 CAT | 04 Mar 2021

Image: Google Maps

With land routes impassable because of security issues, and food trucks parked up and idle in Nangade, government authorities have reactivated the maritime link between the provincial capital, Pemba, and the district of Palma, whose headquarters village has been suffering from a severe lack of essential products.

Essentially, there are three types of products lacking: food products, cleaning products and liquid fuels.

The first vessel to resume this maritime “bridge” docked in Palma on Friday, to the relief of the local population, mostly refugees from villages in Palma and neighbouring districts. The restocking is taking place in coordination with the Cabo Delgado Business Council.

National Road EN 380 is cut off because of the terrorist occupation of the town of Mocímboa da Praia, and with the Mueda-Palma road, which passes through Nangade and then Pundanhar, also cut, the headquarters of Palma is literally isolated by land, leaving traders who used restock their small businesses by road in a dire situation.

The Provincial Director of Industry and Commerce of Cabo Delgado, Nocif Francsco Magaia, said that about 180 tons of various products, and 45,000 litres of fuel, will be transported to Palma every week, numbers which he said would satisfy the essential needs of that district.

For him, the excessively high prices of some basic necessities in the district is not justified, and is the result of pure speculation by some traders. As a result, he said, eight traders in Palma district had been served notice of intention to fine them.

While acknowledging that a definitive solution to the lack of products in Palma was a challenge, Magaia guaranteed that the crisis would be overcome.

Residents are satisfied, but the situation is not resolved.

MediaFAX has established that one kilogram of rice is selling for 200 meticais, compared to the previous 400 meticais. The price of a 25 kg sack of rice varies between 2,500 and 3,500 meticais.

There are still a lot of complaints in Palma about the theft of manioc from vegetable patches, a reflection of the hunger experienced by the residents there. The situation is driving some growers to harvest crops before their due season.

Source: MediaFax