Despite a maize surplus, some half-a-million Malawians affected by drought may face food shortages before the 2008 harvest, a United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) official said Saturday.
"Some 520,000 people in four districts which were affected by drought are on close watch as they may face risk of food shortages before next year's harvest," Matthews Nyirenda told AFP.
Nyirenda, citing a recent report by the Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee, composed of donors and the government, said four of the country's 28 drought-affected areas were being watched closely.
The districts include Karonga and Mzimba in the north, Ntchisi in the central region and Mulanje in the south.
The WFP would soon review the food security situation in the districts and, depending on the outcome of the assesment, would provide humanitarian assistance through targeted food distribution, Nyirenda said.
Despite being swamped with surplus maize from two bumper harvests, food security is still a pressing issue in the poor southern African nation.
Malawi, which annually needs two million tonnes to feed its 12 million people, is this year in surplus of about 1.1 million tonnes. About 400,000 tonnes have been exported to cash-strapped Zimbabwe.
The surplus has been due to subsidised fertiliser and prolonged periods of rainfall, agriculture experts say. The country met its food needs for the first time in seven years in 2006 with a harvest of 2.2 million tonnes.
About 45 percent of Malawians live below the poverty line and on less than a dollar a day.
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