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| Report notes flaws in food reserve management |
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by
Tadala Makata Kakwesa, 28 September 2006
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05:14:19
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Government interference has been mentioned as one of the major factors contributing to inefficient running of the country’s strategic grain reserves (SGR), a development that leads to fluctuating food situation in recent years.
According to a report released by a private consultant, Alexander Phiri in collaboration with Action-Aid International Malawi, has also found that donors’ failure to speak with one voice and their tendency to follow government’s short-sighted strategies has also led to poor food security programmes.
Titled ‘State of the right to food: Progress assessment 10 years after the 1996 World Food Summit, the case of Malawi’, the report derives from a research conducted by Phiri with support from Action-Aid International aimed at reviewing data to the attention of stakeholders.
The report further established that food aid programmes do not assist in ending hunger, but enhances hunger and encourages the dependency syndrome.
‘There are also too many strategic plans and agricultural policies which are not being used by government,” reads the report in part.
Phiri’s report—launched on Tuesday this week in Lilongwe by Action-Aid International at a function attended by other relevant bodies and government officials—has recommended among other things, that strategies for economic empowerment be devised to stop farmers from selling maize immediately after harvest.
“Government should create a clear policy for the private sector participation in agriculture,” reads the report.
During the launch, Action-Aid Director of Policy Collins Magalasi said he report was commissioned to develop a common plan of action in reducing hunger.
“This will help the country to have safe and nutritious food [and] freed from hunger,” said Magalasi
Action-Aid International Malawi launched the research early this year to register progress made towards the implementation of the WFS Plan of Action which was launched in Rome by over 187 countries in 1996.
The process was to facilitate national level reflection in preparation for a special meeting of governments’ representatives to meet in Rome next month to evaluate progress in reaching the WFS goals as well as to eradicate hunger and reduce the number of undernourished people by half before 2015.
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