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600,000 metric tonnes required
president Bakili Muluzi said on Saturday that the food crisis in the
country is expected to continue in the next season because the maize harvest estimates show that there will be a deficit of 600,000 metric tonnes.
Muluzi said at a rally in Mulanje on Saturday that the country is expected to harvest only about 1.4 million metric tonnes of the required 2 million metric tonnes because people started eating the maize from the fields.
“This means that this starvation will persist and spill over into the next season,” said Muluzi
But he assured the people that government was doing everything possible to buy enough food for the people.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture Andrew Chioza said last month that the deficit stood at 300,000 metric tonnes, but hinted at even less yields during the third and final estimates in June or July because, apart from people eating green maize, there were excessive rains and prolonged dry spells in some parts of the country.
He said Tanzania, one of the countries expecting a bumper yield in the region, offered Malawi 300,000 metric tonnes in Songeya, noting that buying from Tanzania would be cheaper than South Africa in terms of transport costs.
National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) General Manager Henry Gaga, in a written response to a questionnaire, said arrangements are underway to restock the strategic grain reserves in Lilongwe with 60,000 metric tonnes of maize to be bought locally.
He said NFRA, apart from restocking the strategic grain reserves, intends to import some maize which would be used for relief, social safety nets and commercial sales.
Muluzi lamented the phasing out, due to donor pressure, of the starter pack programme, which supplied the people with free farm inputs.
“We managed to get as much as 3.5 million metric tonnes during the starter pack programme and government is currently discussing with the donors on how that programme can be resumed,” he said.
He noted that the Targeted Input Programme [that replaced starter pack programme] is segregative as it is only supposed to benefit particular households.
Only the poorest of the poor are supposed to be the beneficiaries.
“I have always argued and told the donors this segregation does not make any sense to me. We need to find ways to bring back the starter pack programme because food security is very important,” he said.
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