MUTARE – The Zimbabwe government has been given approval of US$10million on the integrated climate risk management for food security and livelihoods project.
Green Climate Fund (GCF) approved the fund and it will focus on Masvingo and Rushinga districts.
The project is aimed at strengthening capacity and systems to support national and community adaptation and management of climate risks based on climate forecasts and information.
The project’s objective is to increase adaptive capacity of food insecure households through community based asset creation and risk transfer and enhancing investment capacity of small-holder farmers to sustain climate resilient development gains.
Addressing a press conference at a local hotel here on Tuesday, Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement Perrence Shiri confirmed the approval.
“I am here to announce the recently approved Green Climate Fund project which was jointly developed by my ministry and the World Food Programme. This is Zimbabwe’s first concrete project to be submitted and approved by the Green Climate Fund Board, ” said Shiri adding that the project was approved in July in South Korea during the GCF board meeting.
Shiri said: “This project emanates from the observation that the Zimbabwean economy us heavily reliant on rain-fed agriculture thus making the livelihoods of its rural communities highly vulnerable to climate change.”
He said project will directly support long term adaptation to the effects if climate change and variability.
A total number of 50 000 people from Masvingo and Rushinga districts will benefit, of which 66 percent are women.
