Impact of hunger caused by effects El Niño still very worrisome as WFP orders 29,000 metric tonnes of maize to support affected Malawians

Paul Turnbull and Moses Chimphepo making the announcement

* The El Nino, which the country experienced between the year 2023 and 2024 affected the crop production

* Due to a long dry spell and has forced many families to be food insecure

By Victor Singano Jnr

Department of Disaster Preparedness & Management (DoDMA) says the impact of hunger which was caused by El Niño weather phenomenon is still very worrisome because it affected about 5.7 million people whose required food support can be over 261,000 metric tonnes maize.

And in response to the continued impact, which left many Malawians in acute hunger situations, the World Food Programme (WFP) has ordered extra 29,000 metric tonnes of maize which will be distributed to the affected households in the country from October this year.

Country Director for WFP, Paul Turnbull disclosed the development at WFP warehouses in Limbe where he was updating the media on the status of hunger and how the organisation is preparing to support Malawians by rescuing them from hunger challenges in collaboration with DoDMA.

“The El Nino, which the country experienced between the year 2023 and 2024 affected the crop production due to a long dry spell and has forced many families to be food insecure.

“Currently, we have over 1,300 metric tonnes of maize which have arrived in the country from Tanzania and it is being kept in our warehouses while we are waiting for the remaining trucks to arrive and start the distribution process to the needy Malawians,” he said.

DoDMA’s Director of Disaster Preparedness & Response, Moses Chimphepo said they are working extra hard to source assist the affected families and that currently DoDMA in conjunction with National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) and Admarc have started reaching out to areas where the hunger impact is huge with food just to ease the challenge.

“So far, in terms of resource mobilisation, WFP and DoDMA have managed to record 46% and we expect to start registration for the  maize support to Malawians next month,” he said.

In May, the United States government, through USAID, injected US$7 million (MK12 billion) as additional humanitarian assistance towards the mitigation of the El Niño-induced drought across the country.

The assistance is being managed through WFP, UNICEF and other NGO partners to provide urgently needed food and agriculture assistance as well as to improve access to safe drinking water.

When announcing the support at WFP warehouses USAID-Malawi Mission Director, Pamela Fessenden said the assistance was in response to President Lazarus Chakwera-led administration’s appeal for food and agricultural recovery interventions.

“This additional assistance brings total US humanitarian assistance to Malawi to nearly US$55 million since the beginning of fiscal year 2023 — including vital resilience and food security programmes,” she had said.

“This means two million households (about nine million people) — as announced by the Malawi government, who have lost their crops due to El Niño-induced drought during the 2023-2024 agriculture season — will receive support.

“As a long time partner of Malawi, it’s important to note that the US government, through USAID, was already working in many of the communities affected by El Niño, which has helped our partners quickly mobilise additional support.”

In January, WFP started distribution of 23,000 metric tonnes of maize flour for the government with funding from development partner, the World Bank through the Agriculture Commercialisation (AGCOM) project.

Targeted districts included Blantyre, Thyolo, Mulanje, Chiradzulu, Machinga, Mangochi, Lilongwe, Dowa, Ntchisi, Mzimba, Karonga, Chitipa among others.