Malawian farmers have had a good year, enjoying their best corn harvest in 12 years or more. So why, in a year of "historic plenty", is Malawi yet again on the receiving end of food aid, asks Alex Renton in Britain's Observer newspaper.
Malawi suffered food crises in 2002, 2003 and 2005. Last year it produced a 250,000-tonne surplus of maize, yet still received over 40,000 tonnes of food aid from the United States.
You might think there's no such thing as too much food. But surplus food donations from rich countries can actually hurt the people they're supposed to help, often by distorting local markets.
"We have so much maize this year...But we have a problem over where to sell it. It's not just that the price is so low because there is so much maize, there isn't anyone to sell it to. The traders normally visit the village but they haven't come," Felicita Bailoni tells the paper.
This means Felicita doesn't have enough money for her children's school fees and clothes. And there are already fears of another food crisis in 2008 if farmers stop growing corn or can't afford seeds, according to Charles Rethman, a Malawi-based food security analyst.
School-feeding programmes are also included in foreign interventions. The U.N. World Food Programme runs a project designed to encourage children back to school by offering at least one nutritional meal a day. The organisation buys some of the food for school meals locally, and some is donated by the Malawian government.
The United States likes the idea so much it has agreed to contribute around $20 million to expand the programme. Sounds good, but what's not publicised is that the contribution is conditional. The money has to be spent on U.S.-grown corn and soya shipped on American ships to Malawi, rather than buying food in the country itself.
If that were the case, more children could be part of the scheme, the Observer reports. "(It) doesn't make any sense... (It) undermines farmers, households. It's not sustainable and it won't bring about any long-term change to malnutrition rates," Rethman tells the paper.
"This is giving aid with one hand and taking it away with another. It's the Big Man saying: kneel down before I give you the help," argues a sceptical aid worker.
Even food aid sent in times of sudden disasters can do more harm than good. According to Renton, the United States insisted on sending 30,000 tonnes of rice to countries affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, even though they had adequate supplies of cheap rice.
And there's speculation that Afghan farmers switched to poppy growing after the price of the wheat they farmed became too unstable. The reason? Huge amounts of food aid after the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.
The WFP depends heavily on the United States, which provides nearly half the food aid it distributes. So its enthusiasm for the new U.S. donation isn't surprising. "(The) child doesn't care if his porridge is Malawian or American. The important thing is that more of them are going to be getting it," says Dom Scalpelli, WFP's representative in Malawi.
But why do rich countries produce all this surplus food when they don't need it? Activists argue that it's mainly to keep their own farmers afloat, with the United States leading the way in subsidising its farmers to produce unwanted crops and dumping the produce abroad.
Neither does the European Union have an exemplary record. It moved away from giving food aid in kind in 1999, but still provides subsidies for farmers. Critics say that makes it impossible for African, Latin American and Asian farmers to compete in European markets.
So is there any prospect of change?
Distributing cash instead of food - allowing people to buy the food they need locally - is gaining more ground among aid agencies. Biofuels, which can be made from corn, are expected to use up much of the crop produced by U.S. farmers, leaving little to be dumped abroad. Then there are political attempts to change the U.S. food aid system, inspired by a Congress report on its inefficiencies.
However, the main challenge to current practice may come from aid recipients themselves. Last year, Eritrea refused all food aid in the midst of a drought. The government said it wanted to stop the spread of "a culture of dangerous dependency", according to Renton. Sooner or later, other countries may decide to follow suit.
Friday, 1 June 2007
World Bank part of Malawi–Moz interconnector engagement
The World Bank, the lead financier of the $84-mil- lion Mozambique–Malawi electricity interconnector project, is engaged in a series of discussions with stakeholders in Mozambique and Malawi in order to kick-start the long-awaited project.
The interconnector project will involve the construction of a 200-km, 220-kV power line from the Matambo substation, in Mozambique, to Phalula, north of Malawi’s commercial capital, Blantyre.
Augusto de Souza Fernando, the director of power production and transport at Mozambican electricity utility EdM, says a World Bank team has visited Mozambique to discuss the implementation of the project with various stakeholders.
“This is a project which is 100% owned by EdM, [but] in implementation, there will be some coordination with Cahora Bassa Hydroelectric (HCB), which owns the Matambo substation. “The arrangement is that HCB will operate the line, as is the case with the line to Zimbabwe,” says Fernando.
He says the stakeholders have agreed that there will be initial financing of $60-million for the project, of which about $25-million will be invested on the Mozambican side.
The Swedish Agency for International Development and the Norwegian International Development Agency have joined the World Bank as financiers of the project.
Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) CEO Kandi Padambo says the parastatal expects to seal a power-purchase agreement with HCB before the end of the year.
“So far, there are no obstacles in our discussions with HCB, the supplier, and the World Bank as the lead financier. We just have to finalise some processes,” says Padambo.
The discussions between Escom and HCB hit a snag a year ago because Escom was discouraged by the high price demanded by HCB.
As Escom was considering engaging into discussion with another supplier from the southern Africa region, HCB revised the price downwards forcing Escom to rescind its decision and continue with the arrangements to purchase power from the Mozambican firm.
The Mozambique–Malawi power interconnector is part of the Southern African Power Market project that is being implemented under the auspices of the Southern Africa Power Pool.
The interconnector project will involve the construction of a 200-km, 220-kV power line from the Matambo substation, in Mozambique, to Phalula, north of Malawi’s commercial capital, Blantyre.
Augusto de Souza Fernando, the director of power production and transport at Mozambican electricity utility EdM, says a World Bank team has visited Mozambique to discuss the implementation of the project with various stakeholders.
“This is a project which is 100% owned by EdM, [but] in implementation, there will be some coordination with Cahora Bassa Hydroelectric (HCB), which owns the Matambo substation. “The arrangement is that HCB will operate the line, as is the case with the line to Zimbabwe,” says Fernando.
He says the stakeholders have agreed that there will be initial financing of $60-million for the project, of which about $25-million will be invested on the Mozambican side.
The Swedish Agency for International Development and the Norwegian International Development Agency have joined the World Bank as financiers of the project.
Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) CEO Kandi Padambo says the parastatal expects to seal a power-purchase agreement with HCB before the end of the year.
“So far, there are no obstacles in our discussions with HCB, the supplier, and the World Bank as the lead financier. We just have to finalise some processes,” says Padambo.
The discussions between Escom and HCB hit a snag a year ago because Escom was discouraged by the high price demanded by HCB.
As Escom was considering engaging into discussion with another supplier from the southern Africa region, HCB revised the price downwards forcing Escom to rescind its decision and continue with the arrangements to purchase power from the Mozambican firm.
The Mozambique–Malawi power interconnector is part of the Southern African Power Market project that is being implemented under the auspices of the Southern Africa Power Pool.
Technology to Save Forests
Malawi's utilisation of energy resources is heavily dominated by firewood, which provides 93 percent of all energy needs. Current annual household consumption of firewood and charcoal are at 7.5 million tons, exceeding sustainable supply by 3.7 million tons.
Poverty and population growth in the country are placing escalating pressures on Malawi's indigenous forests which, the ministry of environment says, translates into an annual destruction of approximately 50,000 to 70,000 hectares of forest.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is hopeful that a new ethanol-based innovation will go some way to addressing Malawi's energy problem. The UNDP has included a local company's development of an ethanol-based stove in its Growing Sustainable Business Programme (GSB). It will also boost the local renewable fuel industry.
The GSB initiative, which grew out of the 2002 United Nations Global Compact policy dialogue on business and sustainable development, is targeted at engaging the private sector in poverty reduction.
The idea is to encourage the private sector to expand employment and livelihood opportunities through the development of new products and services that address the needs of the poor.
GSB broker in Malawi, Jan Willem van den Broek, is facilitating linkages between large businesses, potential international investors and local partners to promote the new ethanol stove innovation called ‘‘SuperBlu''.
‘‘It is hoped that with 100,000 households in Malawi using the ethanol stoves, carbon emissions can be reduced by 720,000 tons and 21,300 hectares of trees can be saved annually. This will lead to reduced deforestation and less exposure to carbon monoxide, soot and other household pollutants,'' says van den Broek.
The use of firewood and charcoal has been known to have negative repercussions such as the inhalation of carbon monoxide from the burning of these fuels, which causes a number of health problems.
As trees become increasingly scarce, individuals have little choice but to travel long distances and devote more time to fetching firewood which removes them from productive economic activities and household chores.
Van den Broek is currently helping Bluwave Limited, the company that is producing the stove, to attract the investment needed for the project which, including the first year working capital, is calculated at 1.265 million US dollars.
Over the last four years, the company tested and prototyped the stove in collaboration with the University of Vienna in Austria, Leeds University in the United Kingdom and Chancellor College at the University of Malawi.
Chairperson of Bluwave Limited, Gaffar Jakhura, says the concept of an ethanol-based burner germinated from the search for an affordable and safe substitute for firewood and charcoal.
‘‘For example, in Malawi, forest reserves have almost halved in size. The rate of depletion is increasing and its effects on climate and soil conservation are alarming,'' says Jakhura.
Ethanol is locally available in large quantities since it is a by-product in the sugar manufacturing industry. Sugar is Malawi's second biggest export produce after tobacco and the country has two ethanol-producing plants at its two major sugar factories in Nkhotakota and Chikwawa.
According to Jakhura, the stove has been designed to be reliable, safe and easy to manufacture. The fuel consumption is up to six times more efficient than a paraffin stove and it does not emit any unpleasant smells.
It has no consumable parts, such as wicks. In cold conditions, it converts into a heater by the simple means of a ceramic cylinder which fits on top of the stove. The cylinder heats up and retains and radiates the heat to warm the surrounds, and on top of the cylinder a space is provided for a kettle.
The company's facilities can manufacture 100,000 stoves per year and includes an ethanol fuel plant with a production capacity of 12 million tons of ethanol per year, plus a bottle manufacturing and recycling plant which can manufacture 24 million half-litre bottles per annum.
GSB is a global initiative currently operating in nine African countries including Tanzania, Zambia and Mozambique, as well as nine other countries in Central America, Asia and Eastern Europe.
The initiative has facilitated a large number of investments, from rural telecommunications to the provision of finance for small and medium enterprises. The global GSB portfolio includes investments ranging from 200,000 to 23 million US dollars.
Poverty and population growth in the country are placing escalating pressures on Malawi's indigenous forests which, the ministry of environment says, translates into an annual destruction of approximately 50,000 to 70,000 hectares of forest.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is hopeful that a new ethanol-based innovation will go some way to addressing Malawi's energy problem. The UNDP has included a local company's development of an ethanol-based stove in its Growing Sustainable Business Programme (GSB). It will also boost the local renewable fuel industry.
The GSB initiative, which grew out of the 2002 United Nations Global Compact policy dialogue on business and sustainable development, is targeted at engaging the private sector in poverty reduction.
The idea is to encourage the private sector to expand employment and livelihood opportunities through the development of new products and services that address the needs of the poor.
GSB broker in Malawi, Jan Willem van den Broek, is facilitating linkages between large businesses, potential international investors and local partners to promote the new ethanol stove innovation called ‘‘SuperBlu''.
‘‘It is hoped that with 100,000 households in Malawi using the ethanol stoves, carbon emissions can be reduced by 720,000 tons and 21,300 hectares of trees can be saved annually. This will lead to reduced deforestation and less exposure to carbon monoxide, soot and other household pollutants,'' says van den Broek.
The use of firewood and charcoal has been known to have negative repercussions such as the inhalation of carbon monoxide from the burning of these fuels, which causes a number of health problems.
As trees become increasingly scarce, individuals have little choice but to travel long distances and devote more time to fetching firewood which removes them from productive economic activities and household chores.
Van den Broek is currently helping Bluwave Limited, the company that is producing the stove, to attract the investment needed for the project which, including the first year working capital, is calculated at 1.265 million US dollars.
Over the last four years, the company tested and prototyped the stove in collaboration with the University of Vienna in Austria, Leeds University in the United Kingdom and Chancellor College at the University of Malawi.
Chairperson of Bluwave Limited, Gaffar Jakhura, says the concept of an ethanol-based burner germinated from the search for an affordable and safe substitute for firewood and charcoal.
‘‘For example, in Malawi, forest reserves have almost halved in size. The rate of depletion is increasing and its effects on climate and soil conservation are alarming,'' says Jakhura.
Ethanol is locally available in large quantities since it is a by-product in the sugar manufacturing industry. Sugar is Malawi's second biggest export produce after tobacco and the country has two ethanol-producing plants at its two major sugar factories in Nkhotakota and Chikwawa.
According to Jakhura, the stove has been designed to be reliable, safe and easy to manufacture. The fuel consumption is up to six times more efficient than a paraffin stove and it does not emit any unpleasant smells.
It has no consumable parts, such as wicks. In cold conditions, it converts into a heater by the simple means of a ceramic cylinder which fits on top of the stove. The cylinder heats up and retains and radiates the heat to warm the surrounds, and on top of the cylinder a space is provided for a kettle.
The company's facilities can manufacture 100,000 stoves per year and includes an ethanol fuel plant with a production capacity of 12 million tons of ethanol per year, plus a bottle manufacturing and recycling plant which can manufacture 24 million half-litre bottles per annum.
GSB is a global initiative currently operating in nine African countries including Tanzania, Zambia and Mozambique, as well as nine other countries in Central America, Asia and Eastern Europe.
The initiative has facilitated a large number of investments, from rural telecommunications to the provision of finance for small and medium enterprises. The global GSB portfolio includes investments ranging from 200,000 to 23 million US dollars.
School Board member sends books to Malawi
TIGARD – A retired Tigard-Tualatin educator is now on a mission to help educate the youth of a far-off African country.
Art Rutkin, who retired several years ago as the principal of Mary Woodward Elementary and now serves on the Tigard-Tualatin School District Board of Directors, is hard at work arranging for books to be sent to Malawi.
The goal is to fill a 20-foot container with 500 to 600 boxes of books and ship it next fall, according to Rutkin.
His friends, Fowler Middle School teacher Dale Hill and his wife Lucy, have been involved in the project to send textbooks to Malawi, and their daughter Emily, who attends Tigard High School, started her own drive at the school.
“We re-boxed the books collected at Tigard High and are storing them in the central office warehouse,” Rutkin said. “Emily said that there was no club at school behind this – it was taken on as a random act of kindness.
“It’s kind of neat. Emily put this together and made it into a contest, and the winning class got a donut party.”
Rutkin’s roots in Malawi go way back – he was a Peace Corps volunteer there in the 1960s and met his wife Lois while on the job.
A group of former Peace Corps volunteers formed the non-profit group, Friends of Malawi, and about 10 years ago, former Peace Corps volunteer and Portland resident Shannon Brown started shipping books to the country, one box at a time.
“While I was at Mary Woodward, I got her some books,” Rutkin said. “Last fall, Lois and I wanted to do more, and we’re now collecting books and also raising money to ship the books in September.”
Rutkin estimates that shipping the container will cost about $8,000, and he hopes that people will want to contribute to this worthy cause.
“If people are interested, we will give them a thank you note and receipt that shows they’ve made a tax-deductible donation,” Rutkin said. “We’re hoping to get more kids in the schools involved, and we’re also collecting school supplies and hygiene items to send along with the books.
“We’re committed to doing this. (Superintendent) Rob Saxton has been supportive of this effort. It’s going to happen. We’re trying to monitor the books we get, making sure they’re in decent shape. A lot of schoolbooks get discarded when they get out of date and new ones are purchased. You can’t sell them – there’s no market for them. Schools store them, and they just sit – that’s what got us going.”
Rutkin still remembers the primitive conditions he found in Malawi while volunteering with the Peace Corps.
“Books to them are like gold,” he said. “The saddest fact it that bad as it was then, it’s worse now. The schools have dirt floors, openings in the walls for windows, no screens, no desks, nothing.”
Malawi is a land-locked country about the size of Pennsylvania and located in Southeastern Africa. Great Britain annexed the area known as Nyasaland in 1891 and made it a protectorate in 1892.
Britain combined Nyasaland with the colonies of North and South Rhodesia between 1951 and 1953, and in 1964, the country became the independent nation of Malawi.
In 2005 Malawi faced its worst food shortage in more than 10 years, leaving more than 3 million people – 34 percent of the population – without adequate food supplies.
In this third-world country, old books are better than no books.
According to Rutkin, the Tigard-Tualatin School Board recently adopted a new series of reading books, so schools in the district will no longer be using the old ones.
“We’re trying to get them into the hands of those who need them,” he said. “In addition to reading books, there’s also old math and science books that are still relevant. Because Malawi is a former British colony, everyone speaks and reads English. We’re pretty excited.”
People may send checks made out to Friends of Malawi to Rutkin, 14040 S.W. River Lane, Tigard 97224.
For more information, call him at 503-590-5104.
Art Rutkin, who retired several years ago as the principal of Mary Woodward Elementary and now serves on the Tigard-Tualatin School District Board of Directors, is hard at work arranging for books to be sent to Malawi.
The goal is to fill a 20-foot container with 500 to 600 boxes of books and ship it next fall, according to Rutkin.
His friends, Fowler Middle School teacher Dale Hill and his wife Lucy, have been involved in the project to send textbooks to Malawi, and their daughter Emily, who attends Tigard High School, started her own drive at the school.
“We re-boxed the books collected at Tigard High and are storing them in the central office warehouse,” Rutkin said. “Emily said that there was no club at school behind this – it was taken on as a random act of kindness.
“It’s kind of neat. Emily put this together and made it into a contest, and the winning class got a donut party.”
Rutkin’s roots in Malawi go way back – he was a Peace Corps volunteer there in the 1960s and met his wife Lois while on the job.
A group of former Peace Corps volunteers formed the non-profit group, Friends of Malawi, and about 10 years ago, former Peace Corps volunteer and Portland resident Shannon Brown started shipping books to the country, one box at a time.
“While I was at Mary Woodward, I got her some books,” Rutkin said. “Last fall, Lois and I wanted to do more, and we’re now collecting books and also raising money to ship the books in September.”
Rutkin estimates that shipping the container will cost about $8,000, and he hopes that people will want to contribute to this worthy cause.
“If people are interested, we will give them a thank you note and receipt that shows they’ve made a tax-deductible donation,” Rutkin said. “We’re hoping to get more kids in the schools involved, and we’re also collecting school supplies and hygiene items to send along with the books.
“We’re committed to doing this. (Superintendent) Rob Saxton has been supportive of this effort. It’s going to happen. We’re trying to monitor the books we get, making sure they’re in decent shape. A lot of schoolbooks get discarded when they get out of date and new ones are purchased. You can’t sell them – there’s no market for them. Schools store them, and they just sit – that’s what got us going.”
Rutkin still remembers the primitive conditions he found in Malawi while volunteering with the Peace Corps.
“Books to them are like gold,” he said. “The saddest fact it that bad as it was then, it’s worse now. The schools have dirt floors, openings in the walls for windows, no screens, no desks, nothing.”
Malawi is a land-locked country about the size of Pennsylvania and located in Southeastern Africa. Great Britain annexed the area known as Nyasaland in 1891 and made it a protectorate in 1892.
Britain combined Nyasaland with the colonies of North and South Rhodesia between 1951 and 1953, and in 1964, the country became the independent nation of Malawi.
In 2005 Malawi faced its worst food shortage in more than 10 years, leaving more than 3 million people – 34 percent of the population – without adequate food supplies.
In this third-world country, old books are better than no books.
According to Rutkin, the Tigard-Tualatin School Board recently adopted a new series of reading books, so schools in the district will no longer be using the old ones.
“We’re trying to get them into the hands of those who need them,” he said. “In addition to reading books, there’s also old math and science books that are still relevant. Because Malawi is a former British colony, everyone speaks and reads English. We’re pretty excited.”
People may send checks made out to Friends of Malawi to Rutkin, 14040 S.W. River Lane, Tigard 97224.
For more information, call him at 503-590-5104.
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