|
afrol News, 7 June - Latest report on food security in Malawi indicates severe problems, but is not without hope. Poverty-ridden Malawi, situated in middle of the Southern African drought area, may still solve most problems by importing food staples. Other reports however talk about an emergency in full outbreak. According to the latest Malawi report by the US agency Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS), most parts of the country experienced dry conditions during the past month. This was however "good for harvesting of various crops." Harvesting of crops was currently underway and some farmers had already finished. There was still not enough data to establish whether Malawi would slip into a severe food crisis. The Malawian Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation plans to release the final-round crop production estimates for 2001/02 (April-March) on 20 June. These final figures will allow the updating of various food security analyses based on the second-round estimates, including the food balance sheet, a critically useful planning tool at the national level, FEWS reports. Information from the field and other sources gathered by FEWS indicate that the country may face a more serious food security problem in 2002/03 than 2001/02 "if appropriate measures are not taken immediately to improve availability and access." What the agency calls "anecdotal reports" had however indicated that some rural households have already run out of crops from the recent harvest. The Malawian National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) received about 118,000 metric tons of the 150,000 metric tons of the planned maize imports from South Africa and Tanzania by mid-May. However, rising commodity costs were "likely to reduce the final import tally to about 135,000 metric tons." In April, local market maize prices had actually "continued to drop" as market demand declined as households harvest maize and other food crops. "This has made most households less dependent on the market for maize, at least for the next several months," the good news goes. - With external funding, the government has embarked on a winter cropping program, targeting some 300,000 households with various inputs for winter cultivation, FEWS reports. This program is aimed at increasing winter food production as one way of alleviating the impending food shortage. Foreign funding has however dropped markedly over the last year in response to the political situation in the country. Humanitarian organisations are however reporting that Malawi is experiencing "the worst maize shortage since 1949" and that shortage already by March this year had caused widespread hunger and hundreds of hunger-related deaths. "Out of a total population of 11 million, 7 million could face starvation," the London-based organisation ActionAid warned in March. The data provided by ActionAid totally contradict the data presented by FEWS. While FEWS reports dropping maize prices, ActionAid report of extreme price hikes in the Southern and Central regions of the country - the worst hit areas. Black market prices in some areas had risen by up to 600 percent. Also the UN food agency WFP reports that over three million people will require emergency food aid over the next 12 months. "Serious maize shortages" had developed towards the end of 2001 and first three months of 2002. According to WFP, "from August 2001, maize prices rose sharply - a reflection of the serious maize shortage and slow arrival of imports." The government of Malawi declared a state of national disaster at the end of February, responding to the crisis. This however has resulted in little help from foreign donors.
|
