Some households in Malawi are in a serious battle for survival amidst the ravaging hunger. They cannot eat three times a day and their crops are wilting under their watch. ISAAC SALIMA & SERAH CHILORA have been to some areas where the situation is getting worse each passing day.
Now and again, hunger-stricken households hear authorities promising them heaven—that they will not starve.
But the prolonged dry spell has left them more worried and desperate. They cannot tell where their next meal will come from.
Hunger from the previous season is meeting hunger this season.
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Just like other areas, the situation is so dire in the Shire Valley. Our visit to Mchacha area at Ngabu in Chikwawa District on Tuesday confirmed the pathetic state.
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Here, most households have now found salvation in water tubers locally known as nyika. Some say the tubers are “life-threatening”.
Ironically, they have become a reliable meal to these helpless households.
Egile Moyo was one of the women we found in Nkhanga Village selling nyika.
She said a bunch of the tubers fetches K100 and admitted the ‘stuff’ has been on high demand.
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“These tubers grow in water and we get them from there. They have become the most sought-after food by most desperate households,” Moyo said.
The hopeless households confessed that nyika is bitter and unappetising.
“It is not something you can eat out of choice, but desperation. We only resort to them for survival,” Angella Madi said.
The process to get the tubers is not that easy.
According to Moyo, they risk being attacked by crocodiles in the search for the tubers.
Mother of five Eliza Charles told us that her family have been relying on cassava leaves for survival.
“Yesterday, we did not eat anything. I have bought this soda so that I should use it to cook cassava leaves so that my children can eat something.
“All my children have not reported for school today because they have not eaten anything,” Charles said.
For elderly people, the tale remains that of hopelessness.
For Instance, Janet Wilili, who is of advanced years, told us she had not eaten anything at the time of our visit, around 11 in the morning.
She relies on some well-wishers who too have not been spared the pangs of hunger.
“Hunger is all over here. What are we going to eat? You need to go out and look for food, but in my case, I cannot walk,” she said.
Group Village Head Mchacha said during the lean period, people rely on other crops such as millet to make flour. But, these too have withered in the dry spell.
“The situation is dire here. A bucket of maize is going at K5,000, but how many can afford it? We need about K50,000 to buy a 50-kilogramme bag of maize but where are we going to get the money?” Mchacha queried.
Councillor for Namikango Ward in Chikwawa Aubrey Masanza lamented the hunger crisis.
He has since pleaded with authorities to intensify efforts of reaching out to affected households with food.
The dry spell that has hit some parts of the country, especially in the Southern Region, has also aggravated the hunger situation.
Crops which people would be eating now have been burnt by the heat.
By now, they could be banking on food such as pumpkins and millet as they wait for maize harvest.
District Commissioner for Balaka Tamanya Harawa said about 80 percent of farmers in the district are at risk of hunger.
“The challenge is that we are coming from Tropical Cyclone Freddy which ravaged the district, so already we had reduced harvest.
“By now, people could have been relying on other crops which have not done well due to lack of rains,” Harawa said.
In terms of the dry spells, the situation in Group Village Chikungu, Traditional Authority Chikumbu in Thyolo, is not any different from Chikwawa and other parts of the Southern Region.
During our visit at the weekend, Fenia Masamba, who planted maize on a three-acre piece and said she has no hope of harvesting anything, is worried that hunger will hit her family again.
“The dry spell has shocked me. I am not the only one in my village facing this crisis. It is going to be another year of hunger,” she said.
Chairperson for the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture Sameer Suleiman said the committee has been receiving several complaints from Members of Parliament who he claimed are struggling to face their constituents.
“The situation is devastating. We know this is a natural disaster, but what we are saying is that government should have had a plan like maize on reserve. Or it should have intensively promoted irrigation farming,” Suleman said.
Responding to a question from Leader of opposition Democratic Progressive Party in the House on Wednesday, President Lazarus Chakwera said government is conducting a scientific assessment to establish the extent and impact of the dry conditions.
“Additionally, my administration will equip smallholder farmers to engage in irrigation as soon as the current crop is harvested.
“Early engagement in irrigation activities will ensure that the crops mature before the water sources run dry,” Chakwera said.
He added that authorities will engage smallholder farmers to utilise residual moisture for the production of maize and other crops.
But, critics wonder why there were no irrigation plans way before the rainy season set off even when weather experts kept announcing there would be a damaging dry spell in different parts of the country.
On hunger, Information Minister Moses Kunkuyu on Tuesday told reporters in Lilongwe that about 3.7 million people have already received food aid and cash assistance.
He said 42,000 metric tonnes of maize have been distributed to three million Malawians and that 173,000 households have received cash totalling K26 billion.
Agriculture expert Leonard Chimwaza said that the government should device long-term solutions to counter the hunger and dry spells which now seem to be perennial.
“We need to intensify irrigation farming by promoting it among rural farmers. Cooperatives and association farming should as well be promoted.
“Again we should put much focus on rain harvesting. We need huge investments in this aspect by creating more water reservoirs so that in times of dry spells, we can bank on irrigation farming,” Chimwaza said.
