When the government, through the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (Dodma), launched the Lean Season Food Insecurity Programme to reach out to people that are facing hunger, people like Zomba-based Asiyatu Ahmad Kalole thought that the day of salvation had come. However, as JARSON MALOWA and BRENDA KAYO write, not all beneficiaries have laid their hands on the food.
Kalole, the 42-year-old fourth wife of Gema and mother of five, does not give up easily on things— especially when her life depends on it.
“Take, for example, my upbringing. My mother died when I was seven months old and my father followed suit three months later. This is what my grandmother told me. Instead of giving up on life, I made it to this ripe age of 42— and I know I have many more years to go.
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“In fact, when my two elder twin sisters married at the age of 19, I remained in school because I wanted to become a nurse. Of course, my dream to become a nurse foundered along the way but I am a small-scale businesswoman now. However, because I trade in farm produce, most of my suppliers lost their crop in the field, after it was washed away by Tropical Cyclone Freddy-induced water in March last year. My house was not spared, such that I lost household property and maize and groundnuts I had stocked up to sell. That is how I found myself, and family members, facing hunger this year,” Kalole said on Tuesday this week.
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However, not all was lost for her, as she was told that she had been earmarked for relief food, which Dodma is distributing to hunger-stricken households.
“I was hopeful at first but I am yet to get the relief items. To make matters worse, the dry spell that hit Zomba late last year means I will not harvest enough. I really need relief food but I am about to give up now,” she said.
Another earmarked beneficiary, who only identified herself as Puna, said she is still waiting for relief items.
“I am one of the people earmarked for relief items but the relief items are nowhere to be seen,” Puna said.
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However, Dodma indicates that it has made progress in distributing relief items, saying, to date, it has supported 4,050,679 people with maize flour and maize.
Dodma spokesperson Chipiliro Khamula said the department has also supported 1,442.392 people with money amounting to K47.1 billion.
“The relief response seeks to uplift the lives of individuals who have been affected by the hunger crisis,” Khamula said.
Khamula said the department will continue supporting the affected households.
According to the Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee 2023 annual report, hunger affected 4.4 million people.
In February, Dodma launched the distribution of maize flour under the Lean Season Food Insecurity Response, which targeted 4.4 million people in all 28 districts of Malawi.
In March this year, President Lazarus Chakwera declared a State of Disaster in 23 districts of the country.
The districts in question have been affected by El Niño.
Chakwera said about 600,000 metric tonnes (mt) of maize, valued at K357 billion, were required for this humanitarian response programme.
Dodma has indicated that it has distributed 70,559.30mt of maize and 15,261mt of maize flour to the affected households.
