AFRICANEWS

Malawi

Government hands out free seed

Food security

In response to a looming food shortage, the Malawi government is giving out free seeds and fertiliser, a move that is expected to help farmers grow five times as much food for themselves.

With food shortages looming this year, Malawi is again trying to shore up its production by giving free maize seeds and fertiliser to one million poor farmers.

"We want to eat our own maize next year," Agriculture Minister Aleke Banda told hundreds of poor villagers and donors October 5 in the rural farming district of Thyolo, some 30 kilometres south of Blantyre. "It's shameful to continue begging for food."

The government hopes that by giving free supplies to poor farmers, they will be able to grow five times as much food for themselves. The free packages weigh 13kg, and include fertiliser, and maize, grain, and legume seeds.

Banda said that fertiliser and good seeds would enable small farmers to produce ten 50kg bags of maize from one hectare, compared to only one or two bags without it. "One million farmers will produce plenty of maize next year," said Banda. "Agriculture alone will end hunger and poverty in Malawi." Agriculture officials said the distribution would end in December after covering the whole country.

The Malawi government, along with Britain and the European Union, are backing the $8 million scheme. It is designed to target only "the poorest of the poor," in a country where 65 percent of its 11 million people live in poverty.

This is the fourth year that the government and donors have tried to avert food shortages by giving farmers free supplies. Before this scheme began in 1998, Malawi suffered perennial shortages and was dependent on food aid for survival.

But fearful that Malawians will become dependent on the handouts, donors have steadily trimmed back the programme, from a peak of three million households in 1999 to only one million this year.

Malawi produced more than two million tons of maize in 1999, a national record, after free inputs were given to three million households. The number of recipients was halved last year, and as that harvest came in the country quickly fell short on maize again.

Food security is a pressing issue in Malawi. Despite the huge fresh water supply in Lake Malawi, fields have little irrigation and most farming remains small-scale. The economy of this tiny and impoverished southern African state is dependent on agriculture, contributing 34 percent of gross domestic product and providing employment to some 80 percent of its people.

Banda had also announced at the October 5 ceremony that the first consignment of a total 180,000 metric tones of maize from South Africa had arrived, and was immediately expected to cushion the impact of Malawi's food crisis. The maize, arriving by road and rail through Mozambique, comes amid scenes of desperation, with some low-income Malawians scrambling for maize bran while others survive on wild fruits, tubers, and bitter roots.

Apart from South Africa, more maize is expected from neighbouring Tanzania, while Uganda has promised to offer Malawi some 30,000 metric tonnes on loan. Banda also warned that, because of exorbitant landing and distribution costs, the new maize inflows might not result in a reduction in prices.

Banda ordered the maize to be sent straight to the market and not to silos for storage. The order came because of a brewing row between two state-owned food agencies that accuse each other of selling off or exporting last year's surplus maize, thereby occasioning the current food crisis.

The National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) maintains that, had the Agriculture Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMARC) not sold off 60,000 metric tonnes of maize in the national silos, the country would have been spared the present crisis. ADMARC retorts that, had the NFRA not exported 68,000 metric tonnes to Kenya, Malawi would have enough food today.

Meanwhile, figures from the Ministry of Agriculture show that half of the country's 27 districts reported serious food shortfalls, with more than 500,000 people in desperate need of assistance. This comes in the wake of the worst floods to hit Malawi in recent years, according to the international non-government organisation World Vision. In the floods, which wreaked havoc earlier this year, 20 people were killed and more than 320,000 were left homeless. In addition, crops were destroyed just when the staple food, maize, was ripening.

Since then, there have been persistent reports of people starving, particularly in rural areas. World Vision said recently that it was carrying out a food and nutrition assessment in Malawi to determine how best to combat the hunger that is ravaging most of the country. The NGO had already assisted several communities in areas near projects in southern Malawi with relief food. The World Food Programme has also used World Vision project staff to help distribute food.

Those affected by the food shortfalls, in both rural areas and cities such as Blantyre, Mzuzu, and Lilongwe, have now resorted to eating maize husks, normally reserved for animals. This is because a 50-kilogramme bag of maize is now a prohibitive US $13. The results of World Vision's assessment in various parts of the country are expected to be available by the end of October.

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