Malawi gives 5000 tonnes of maize to Swaziland

THE Malawian government has responded to the current food shortage and hunger situation in the country by donating over 5 000 metric tonnes of maize.

This consignment was officially handed over to government yesterday by the Malawian high commissioner to Swaziland, Dr. Martin Kansichi and received on behalf of government by the Minister of Regional Development and Youth Affairs Chief Sipho Shongwe at the National Maize Corporation yesterday.

Speaking during the occasion, Dr. Kansichi said upon hearing about the acute food shortage in some countries in Southern Africa including Swaziland, Malawi was seriously touched especially because that country had experienced similar problems for a long time as well. He said Malawi had ever been assisted by development partners as well as countries from within the SADC region whenever there were food shortage problems, hence the decision to reciprocate the favour. “Our President therefore saw it wise to assist our brothers and sisters as a sign of good neighbourliness and good will. We belong to SADC as a regional bloc and it will not be good for Malawi to sit down and watch when neighbours are suffering. It is our strong belief that as members of SADC, we should be able to assist one another in times of problems like food shortages first before asking those outside our region to help,” said Dr. Kansichi.

Meanwhile, the high commissioner said the food shortage problem slows down development because resources are quite often diverted to programmes aimed at mitigating the food deficit.

“If you are importing food the country loses the scarce foreign currency. You definitely can not avoid spending more than what has been budgeted for because every citizen has the right to food and needs social protection from government.

Making his remarks upon receiving the donation, Minister Chief Sipho Shongwe registered his concern with the fact that the prevalent hunger situation was seemingly here to stay in the country. He said there are clear indications that there shortfall of maize and food may continue if the dry spells and erratic rainfalls are anything to go by. He also lamented the recent storm winds and veld fires which devastated a number of homesteads.