* We have planned to support 600 families in our catchment area, and Nkaya will be involved in small scale irrigation—CARD
* We will also provide solar mobile pumps to help with irrigation and communities will also be assisted to rehabilitate shallow wells to make their water points reliable
By Mary Makhiringa, MANA
Total hectares of maize crop in Balaka for the 2023/2024 agricultural season was estimated at 95,074 but following a 33-day dry spell the district has experienced due to El Niño weather pattern, 27,771 hectares have been rendered completely dry.
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At least 109,340 farmers are likely to be in critical food insecurity in Balaka as since the onset of the rainy season, the district has been receiving erratic rainfall, which has negatively affected maize production, the main food crop, and alternative food crops.
Presenting a dry spell report for March to members of the district agricultural extension coordinating committee (DAECC), senior agriculture officer, Samuel Chinkhadze said: “Currently, some farmers are harvesting their crop straight from the garden to the maize mill as they do not have food. This means a lot more people will be food insecure soon.
He, therefore, asked various stakeholders to join hands with the agriculture office in helping the affected families go for irrigation farming, which is the immediate solution.
“Balaka has a total of 1,351.5 hectares of land potential for irrigation, 666 hectares of which are currently irrigable and operational,” he reported. “It is recommended to provide farm inputs to those farmers that have access to irrigation water sources.”
He further advised that farmers should only plant drought-tolerant and early-maturing crop varieties, considering that most of the potential irrigation sites might not have adequate moisture or water reserves.
Project officer for Churches Action in Relief & Development (CARD), Mercy Chakoma, who is also Balaka DAECC chairperson, said CARD was ready to support the affected farming farmers.
“We have planned to support 600 families in our catchment area, and Nkaya will be involved in small scale irrigation,” she said. “Even without this report, we already knew that there was a need for irrigation farming due to how the maize crop fared.
“We will also provide solar mobile pumps to help with irrigation and communities will also be assisted to rehabilitate shallow wells to make their water points reliable.”
Chakoma added that affected farmers will also be provided with small livestock as a backup in case irrigation farming fails to work and she thus called upon other stakeholders to come forward and assist the affected farmers with various alternative interventions in the face of food insecurity.
Last week, President Lazarus Chakwera declared a state of disaster in 23 districts of of Nsanje, Chikwawa, Blantyre, Thyolo, Mulanje, Phalombe, Chiradzulu, Zomba, Machinga, Mangochi, Balaka, Mwanza, Neno, Lilongwe, Mchinji, Ntcheu, Salima, Dowa, Dedza, Ntchisi, Kasungu, Nkhotakota and Karonga — as per a report from the Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee (MVAC).
President Chakwera addressing the nation last week
In his national address, Chakwera said government’s preliminary assessment indicated that close to 2 million farming households have been affected — and specifically, 749,113 hectares of maize have been affected, representing 44.3% of the national crop area.
After physical assessment of state of affairs following inadequate rains, floods and prolonged dry spells that have been experienced across the country due to El Niño conditions, Chakwera thus declared the State of Disaster in 23 whose crops were severely damaged.
The President has invoked Section 37(1) of the Disaster Risk Management Act (2023) saying for the past 12 months, he had toured several parts of the country to assess “how Malawians were faring against the harsh blows of climate change”.
He added that even though his administration distributed a lot of food to reduce food insecurity, there is still a significant number do not have enough food.
He took cognizance that in the four years that he has been President, he also had to declare a State of Disaster four times and following the disasters of 2022 and 2023, he ordered the distribution of food assistance to food insecure households, as well as the intensification of irrigation farming under the Greenbelt Initiative and the Mega Farm Programme.
“The irrigation strategy alone has been targeting 54,720 hectares that require K46.97 billion to cover seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, agricultural infrastructure, and solar pumps.
The President also visited Nkhotakota and Karonga districts to assess devastation that was caused by flash floods that resulted in loss of lives and injuries, damage to homes, household property and public infrastructure such as roads, bridges, water points and schools, among others.
Relief food distribution was hampered by damaged road network
“Of the 17,033 households affected in these two districts, over 70% were displaced and forced into camps where they require constant support in terms of food, non-food items, restoration of service delivery, and rehabilitation of public infrastructure.
“But like I said, in all 23 districts where I am declaring a State of Disaster today, the most urgent need is food because of the large number of people at risk of hunger.
“Accordingly, I am calling on all Malawians of goodwill, both here at home and abroad, all our development partners, the international community, all relevant United Nations Agencies, the World Bank, non-governmental organizations, the local private sector, Members of Parliament, and all those who have any resources in cash or kind to spare, to avail those resources as donations to the Presidential Initiative to Stop Hunger, which will be coordinated by my office through DoDMA.
“Our initial estimate is that close to 600,000 metric tonnes of maize valued at K357.6 billion will be required for this humanitarian response programme.”—Additional reporting by Duncan Mlanjira, Maravi Express
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