Malawi’s bumper harvest fails to wipe away food insecurity

Despite bumper yields Malawi has enjoyed in the past two crop seasons, there are areas where people will still experience food insecurity due to chronic problems, the Famine Early Warning Network (FEWS) warned here Wednesday.

FEWS, which monitors food production in the Southern African region, said over 500,000 people across Malawi will need to be watched as any worsening economic conditions could reduce entitlements below their needs.

The reduction in both cash crop and food by private traders will push entitlements below their needs, thereby calling for some kind of support, FEWS said.

According to recent Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee (MVAC) findings, there are no significant missing food entitlements arising as a result of hazards experienced during neither the growing season nor the projected economic indicators.

At the national level, it noted that the concern has been how to dispose of the current excess maize without putting the country at undue risk of food insecurity later in the season or, in case of crop failure in the next season or two.

The agriculture and food security ministry released the third round crop estimates figures in June 2007.

The estimates showed that the country’s maize production is at 3.44 million metric tonnes, an increase of 33.7 per cent over the 2006 production.

In the ministry’s report, all the crops except tobacco have registered increases over last year’s harvest.

Despite a reduction in area under cotton, the production increased by 8.7 per cent due to the favorable weather.

Based on the consumption requirement of 2.2 million metric tonnes, the 2007 harvest leaves a huge surplus of 1.2 million metric tonnes.

At the same time, cross border trade with Mozambique is increasing as a total of 8,000 metric tonnes were imported in June, bringing total informal imports from April to 21,000 metric tonnes, the ministry said.