The way government officials were, just on September 15 this year, touting the Mega Farms’ initiative, one would have thought that Malawi and hunger had severed ties. Alas! Maybe the initiative was a smokescreen for a red-carpet reception event for hunger.
Yes, public officials we thought were there to take us to a land of milk and honey, a land where hunger lives only in memories and hope saturates the air, were there pretending to be busy taking us somewhere while doing nothing.
Today, the new administration of President Peter Mutharika is already grappling with a major humanitarian challenge that requires the government to mobilise K378.2 billion to provide emergency food assistance to over four million Malawians who are facing acute food insecurity. This is coming at a time the 2025 Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee report has painted a bleak picture of the country’s food security outlook for the upcoming lean season. In Malawi, the lean season stretches from October 2025 through to March 2026.
According to the report, 4,009,537 people, representing 22 percent of Malawi’s population, will be unable to meet their annual food needs. Of this number, 64,138 are urban dwellers residing in Blantyre, Lilongwe, Mzuzu, and Zomba cities while the overwhelming majority, 3.9 million, are rural area residents.
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Maybe I should not ‘put’ words into the government’s mouth. Rather, I should quote a report from the Ministry of Finance. “These are people who are in phases three (crisis) and four (emergency) of acute food insecurity severity according to the Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) Scale and they require urgent humanitarian action to reduce their food consumption gaps, protect and restore their livelihoods and prevent high levels of acute malnutrition.
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“At the same time, 33 percent (6,035,446 people) of the total national population are stressed (phase two). They do have minimally adequate food consumption but are unable to afford some essential non-food expenditures without engaging in stress-coping strategies. This highlights the need for disaster risk reduction and resilient building.”
Of course, new Finance Minister Joseph Mwanamvekha has indicated that in order to protect livelihoods, the vulnerable population would require humanitarian food assistance that has been estimated at 200,000 metric tonnes of maize with an estimated cash value of K387.20 billion.
In his words, “This is the approximate figure from 187,325 metric tonnes indicated in the report to cater for the effects of the delays made on provision of the food assistance. The food assistance is required for a period ranging from three months to six months of the lean season. The government profoundly appreciates the concerted efforts of all stakeholders in addressing this situation.”
This is shameful, to say the least, considering that people like me were made to believe that the Mega Farms initiative was a magic wand; a solution to Malawi’s hunger problem. Far from it.
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No wonder, Mutharika has also faulted implementation of the programme, saying while the concept is good, implementation has been marred by ills such as favouritism.
Well, all I can say of the Mega Farms initiative is that it is a mega plot to leave Malawians hungry for, I do not know how long! Sometimes I feel like the liars of this nation do not wish their country well. And, if examples were needed, the Mega Farms initiative can offer a good one.
