By Cathy Maulidi:
Civil Society Agriculture Network (Cisanet) has asked the government to address socio-economic challenges besetting Malawians, describing it as one of the key strategies for mitigating the impact of hunger.
The development comes at a time Malawi’s IPC Acute Food Insecurity Analysis Projection has revealed that the country’s food situation will worsen between October 2023 and March 2024.
The report indicates that the food crisis will affect 3.9 million people in rural areas and 470,000 in cities such as Blantyre, Zomba, Lilongwe and Mzuzu.
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According to the report, the situation will negatively impact rural and urban households, affecting their financial access to food.
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And, in a statement, Cisanet has warned that, if not well handled, the situation could spill into Malawi’s “worst food crisis” in decades.
The network’s board chairperson Herbert Chagona cites the recent depreciation of the Kwacha against the United States Dollar as one of the factors that could negatively affect the country’s food production due to its over-reliance on imported fertiliser.
“There are other recent socio-economic development changes that have the potency of further weakening the country’s already frail food systems. The network, therefore, feels that, should decisive actions not be taken as a matter of urgency, the said developments–as things stand—are poised to condemn Malawi to probably the worst food crisis in decades,” Chagona says.
He calls on the government to expedite the process of purchasing farm inputs to ensure that farmers, both smallholder and commercial, have access to the same on time.
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“We also hope government, through the Treasury, has reserved enough forex to help cushion the changes,” Chagona said.
Cisanet feels that problems such as a weakened Kwacha and forex shortage will continue to threaten the country’s other key three Fs, namely food, fuel and fertiliser.
The statement says the three, coupled with the country’s reported dwindling import cover, go hand-in-hand, effectively signaling the beginning of yet another cycle of hunger.
“There is a need for systematic changes to be made now. Otherwise, in the wake of this current food crisis, Malawi will find itself in recurring self-inflicted hunger or food insecurity more often than not,” Cisanet indicates.
Reacting to this, government spokesperson Moses Kunkuyu said the current administration is already looking at ways of addressing challenges.
“[For example], forex for the importation of farm inputs like fertiliser is an issue that is known and has been discussed already. The meetings that are taking place between the government and the IMF [International Monetary Fund], including the one that took place yesterday [on Tuesday], are aimed at addressing the shortage of forex, which will address not only the issue of farm inputs but also other essential commodities that we import,” Kunkuyu said.
