Africa-Press – Cape verde. The Porto Novo City Council, in Santo Antão, admitted this Saturday, 16, that there is “some situation of food shortage” in the municipality, due to the drought. However, he guarantees that he has supported families in different ways within the framework of the municipal budget.
The city council made this statement regarding a visit by the World Food Program (WFP) team and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to Santo Antão last Thursday, 14th.
“Porto Novo has been going through a cycle of droughts since 2017 with severe consequences on the diet of families, who no longer have their productions, even rainfed crops such as corn, beans and potatoes”, he explained, quoted by Inforpress.
The team, according to a statement from the municipality, met with the mayors of the municipal councils, delegates from the ministries of Agriculture and Environment and of Education of Santo Antão, as part of a request for support for the school food program made by the Government of Cabo Verde. .
Lack of water for agriculture
The drought that has plagued Porto Novo for almost five years has had an impact, on the other hand, on the availability of water for agriculture, which causes “a constant fluctuation in food prices with a direct impact on the quality of life of families”, says the Ministry of Health. document.
This situation means that there is “some situation of food shortage, without, however, there are concrete data to prove it”, according to the same source.
supports
Within the framework of the municipal budget, the Porto Novo City Council says it is supporting the operation of canteens in kindergartens and contributing to the implementation of small school gardens in some schools.
In addition, the city council says that it has provided, daily, two hot meals to 160 elderly people and people with disabilities, who attend the day centers in this municipality.
On the other hand, through the social store, it guarantees that 116 poor families are given basic food baskets, in addition to assigning plots of land to households for the practice of urban agriculture.
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