Zambia has enough food to withstand El Nino-Musokotwane.

Dr Musokotwane said the country was adequately prepared to respond to possible food shortages, citing the bumper harvests recorded in the last two farming seasons.

“We have sufficient food in the country because we have had good harvests in the last two farming seasons. So, we are confident that the country will not experience a hunger situation because of El Niño effects,” Dr Musokotwane said.

He said Government was closely monitoring the situation and had put measures in place to ensure vulnerable households were not left without food.

Dr Musokotwane said although the anticipated El Niño could adversely affect agricultural production in some areas due to inadequate rainfall, Zambia had sufficient food stocks to cushion communities that might record poor harvests.

He said Government was particularly concerned about households that could be affected by poor harvests and would strengthen social protection programmes to support vulnerable communities.

Dr Musokotwane said programmes such as the Social Cash Transfer and Cash for Work would be used to assist households struggling to meet their basic needs.

“We know that there will be challenges in some areas because of El Niño, but we are putting measures in place to make sure that no one dies from hunger,” he said.

He added that Government’s response would focus on ensuring that vulnerable people had access to food and other essential needs throughout the period in which the effects of the weather pattern were expected to be felt.