The World Food Programme (WFP) has approved a 59.8 million U.S. dollar project for Malawi through which 635,000 school-going children would be provided with a daily meal in their schools for four years.
A statement issued Tuesday by WFP local office in the Malawian capital of Lilongwe, stated that the project,Support to Primary Education Development Project for Malawi, would be implemented from January 2008 to December 2011.
The WFP said in the statement that the Malawian government would contribute 19.6 million dollars towards the project for staff salaries and monitoring costs while WFP would cough up 40.2 million dollars, mainly for food, transport and other associated costs.
"The idea of working with the government directly is to support national ownership, and we anticipate that the government will eventually take over the school feeding program,'' WFP's Country Director in Malawi, Dom Scalpelli, said in the statement.
Scalpelli said the project would have a huge impact on education and development in Malawi by increasing enrolment rates and reducing drop out rates, particularly among girls and orphans, and by promoting regular attendance.
"The project will also help improve the children's ability to concentrate and learn, especially that around 70 percent of children go to school without having breakfast," the WFP Country Director said.
WFP said the in the current project, community participation would also be an integral part as communities in the targeted schools would be required to sign a community contract, defining the responsibilities of each party before the project starts.
WFP has since 2002 been feeding close to 210,000 primary school children in Malawi's 10 districts as one way of encouraging those children that were in school to remain and also attract those that dropped out to come back.
A study commissioned by UNICEF in Malawi in 2002 found that food shortages increased student absenteeism and dropout rates, particularly during the lean season.
Malawi's traditional lean season runs between December and April when maize is scarcest. During the same period, the price of maize usually rises until the March/April harvest.
The average national dropout rate is 16.1 percent and it is higher for girls than boys.
In the current project, the food agency would be feeding the 635,000 children in 672 schools spread across the country's 14 of all the 28 districts. The children would be provided with a bowl of porridge on every school day throughout the year.
WFP stated that the approved project would enable around 21 percent of Malawi's primary schoolgoing children to enjoy a nutritious meal every day.
"About 114,300 girls and orphaned boys in school will also receive a monthly take-home ration of 12.5 km of staple maize during the lean season, providing an additional incentive for their parents and guardian to send them to school,"the food agency added.
Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts
Wednesday, 13 June 2007
Friday, 1 June 2007
Malawi struggles with too much food
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.
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, 27 April 2007
Zimbabwe: Country Barters Sugar for Malawi Maize
AS food and foreign currency shortages intensify, government has devised a plan to barter sugar for maize with Malawi.
The strategy conceived by the Joint Operations Command (JOC) food taskforce -- which brings together the army, police, intelligence service and ministries of Agriculture and Industry -- came into force last month as government desperately tries to stave-off starvation.
The barter project has resulted in a countrywide shortage of sugar which is now only available on the informal market where it is fetching up to $20 000 a kg. The price of sugar is controlled by the state and a 2kg packet should cost $8 000. Price wars between government and producers have in the past created intermittent shortages but the latest stockouts are as a result of major exports to Malawi, industry sources said.
The Zimbabwe Independent this week heard that the sugar was being transported to Malawi in 30-tonne trucks which then came back into the country with maize.
While it is not clear how much sugar will be exported to Malawi, Zimbabwe is set to receive two tonnes of maize for every tone of sugar exported. A tonne of maize is fetching US$155 compared to US$348 for a tonne of sugar.
Sources at the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) said a team made up of the taskforce and the parastatal's operations department officers has already shipped two consignments of sugar to Malawi, one in March and another two weeks ago in exchange for maize. The source said the group was in the process of putting together further sugar consignments to cover the huge grain deficit in the country.
"About 100 000 tonnes of maize have already been discussed and will be on their way to Zimbabwe once the shipment arrangements have been finalised," the source said. "However, considering that an estimated 400 000 tonnes are likely to be produced locally, that leaves a huge deficit that needs to be filled."
Zimbabwe requires 1,8 million tonnes of grain to bridge two farming seasons, excluding 500 000 tonnes for strategic reserves.Government is understood to be getting the sugar directly from the mills in Chiredzi.
Farmers in the area said it was possible for government to commandeer sugar ahead of any other customer and where they would send it is entirely up to them.
"Government often commandeers sugar which it buys at ridiculous prices," one farmer said. "Last year export consignments destined for Namibia had to be stopped to allow government to get 10 000 tonnes of sugar they required."
Malawi, swamped with surplus maize from two bumper harvests, said it was prepared to export 400 000 tonnes of the staple to cash-strapped Zimbabwe.
Nasinuku Saukila, general manager of the National Food Reserve Agency, recently said Malawi has had two years of bumper maize harvest and is in surplus of about 1,1 million tonnes. He was also quoted as saying that Zimbabwe has been shopping around for maize and they will be exporting 400 000 tonnes of maize following a demand from Zimbabwe.
Over the past six years government has resorted to barter trade in minerals, land and other natural resources with any country that has the potential to provide fuel. Recently government hatched a plan to use diamonds mined from Marange in exchange for fuel from Equatorial Guinea.
Controversy around the discovery and exploitation of diamonds in Marange where the government has kicked out the owners of the claim, a British company, African Consolidated Resources (ACR), is likely to scupper the fuel deal.
Government is said to have already received fuel worth US$24 million from Equatorial Guinea, which it is unable to pay for, and now wants to use part of the diamond loot to amortise the debt.
Similar barter trade facilities put in place by government previously collapsed as government failed to honour its promises on time.
The strategy conceived by the Joint Operations Command (JOC) food taskforce -- which brings together the army, police, intelligence service and ministries of Agriculture and Industry -- came into force last month as government desperately tries to stave-off starvation.
The barter project has resulted in a countrywide shortage of sugar which is now only available on the informal market where it is fetching up to $20 000 a kg. The price of sugar is controlled by the state and a 2kg packet should cost $8 000. Price wars between government and producers have in the past created intermittent shortages but the latest stockouts are as a result of major exports to Malawi, industry sources said.
The Zimbabwe Independent this week heard that the sugar was being transported to Malawi in 30-tonne trucks which then came back into the country with maize.
While it is not clear how much sugar will be exported to Malawi, Zimbabwe is set to receive two tonnes of maize for every tone of sugar exported. A tonne of maize is fetching US$155 compared to US$348 for a tonne of sugar.
Sources at the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) said a team made up of the taskforce and the parastatal's operations department officers has already shipped two consignments of sugar to Malawi, one in March and another two weeks ago in exchange for maize. The source said the group was in the process of putting together further sugar consignments to cover the huge grain deficit in the country.
"About 100 000 tonnes of maize have already been discussed and will be on their way to Zimbabwe once the shipment arrangements have been finalised," the source said. "However, considering that an estimated 400 000 tonnes are likely to be produced locally, that leaves a huge deficit that needs to be filled."
Zimbabwe requires 1,8 million tonnes of grain to bridge two farming seasons, excluding 500 000 tonnes for strategic reserves.Government is understood to be getting the sugar directly from the mills in Chiredzi.
Farmers in the area said it was possible for government to commandeer sugar ahead of any other customer and where they would send it is entirely up to them.
"Government often commandeers sugar which it buys at ridiculous prices," one farmer said. "Last year export consignments destined for Namibia had to be stopped to allow government to get 10 000 tonnes of sugar they required."
Malawi, swamped with surplus maize from two bumper harvests, said it was prepared to export 400 000 tonnes of the staple to cash-strapped Zimbabwe.
Nasinuku Saukila, general manager of the National Food Reserve Agency, recently said Malawi has had two years of bumper maize harvest and is in surplus of about 1,1 million tonnes. He was also quoted as saying that Zimbabwe has been shopping around for maize and they will be exporting 400 000 tonnes of maize following a demand from Zimbabwe.
Over the past six years government has resorted to barter trade in minerals, land and other natural resources with any country that has the potential to provide fuel. Recently government hatched a plan to use diamonds mined from Marange in exchange for fuel from Equatorial Guinea.
Controversy around the discovery and exploitation of diamonds in Marange where the government has kicked out the owners of the claim, a British company, African Consolidated Resources (ACR), is likely to scupper the fuel deal.
Government is said to have already received fuel worth US$24 million from Equatorial Guinea, which it is unable to pay for, and now wants to use part of the diamond loot to amortise the debt.
Similar barter trade facilities put in place by government previously collapsed as government failed to honour its promises on time.
Thursday, 26 April 2007
Bumper harvest expected again this year
Farmers in Malawi are attributing the abundant harvest they are looking forward to - a total of 3.2 million metric tonnes of maize this year - to a combination of good rains and subsidised fertiliser, although there are still remaining pockets of vulnerability.
"What the government did - to reduce fertiliser [prices] to enable the poor buy cheap fertiliser - has increased food production. It is my sincere hope that government will continue implementing the programme, so that Malawi does not suffer from hunger any longer," said Amos Banda, a farmer on the outskirts of the capital, Lilongwe.
The government has also attributed the high maize production to subsidised fertiliser, which was sold to farmers at 950 kwacha [about US$6.50] per 50kg bag; in 2004 the price was around K4,000 [about US$27] per 50kg bag.
With a 22 percent increase over last year's production - 73 percent higher than the average for the last five years, according to government estimates - Malawi's agricultural sector seems to be recovering after a drought in 2005 left almost five million people in need of food aid.
Banda said that working hard "is the only solution to deal with persistent hunger in our households. We have had good rains in the past few years, but good rainfall without farm inputs and hard work cannot produce better crop yields."
Joana Kambale, another farmer, praised the government for reducing the cost of fertiliser but suggested that the most poverty-stricken people be given fertiliser free of charge.
"Some of us are keeping orphans, and to raise money to feed the children and buy fertiliser is not easy. However, I have to be thankful to government for the reduction, but free fertiliser to the poor would be helpful," she said.
Despite forecasts of a good harvest throughout the country, a maize shortage is expected in Karonga district, in the Northern part of Malawi, after a lack of rain in February.
Nevertheless, the farmers have proven resilient. "Although we may not harvest enough maize from this area, we still believe we can survive by growing winter crops. What most people would like, however, is the support from government. We need to irrigate our crops and we can only succeed if we have proper equipment," said Daniel Mwagomba, a farmer in Karonga.
An estimated 65 percent of Malawi's 12 million people live below the poverty line, so the vast majority cannot afford irrigation equipment. The government has said it would distribute about 400 treadle pumps - a simple and inexpensive human-powered pump - but farmers in most areas have not yet received them.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture Binton Kuntsaira said there were no plans to discontinue the government's subsidy programme. "Due to high maize ... production last year, government has allowed traders to sell their crops outside Malawi. This year we expect more from our farmers, and this is what the government wants. People must be able to feed themselves."
"What the government did - to reduce fertiliser [prices] to enable the poor buy cheap fertiliser - has increased food production. It is my sincere hope that government will continue implementing the programme, so that Malawi does not suffer from hunger any longer," said Amos Banda, a farmer on the outskirts of the capital, Lilongwe.
The government has also attributed the high maize production to subsidised fertiliser, which was sold to farmers at 950 kwacha [about US$6.50] per 50kg bag; in 2004 the price was around K4,000 [about US$27] per 50kg bag.
With a 22 percent increase over last year's production - 73 percent higher than the average for the last five years, according to government estimates - Malawi's agricultural sector seems to be recovering after a drought in 2005 left almost five million people in need of food aid.
Banda said that working hard "is the only solution to deal with persistent hunger in our households. We have had good rains in the past few years, but good rainfall without farm inputs and hard work cannot produce better crop yields."
Joana Kambale, another farmer, praised the government for reducing the cost of fertiliser but suggested that the most poverty-stricken people be given fertiliser free of charge.
"Some of us are keeping orphans, and to raise money to feed the children and buy fertiliser is not easy. However, I have to be thankful to government for the reduction, but free fertiliser to the poor would be helpful," she said.
Despite forecasts of a good harvest throughout the country, a maize shortage is expected in Karonga district, in the Northern part of Malawi, after a lack of rain in February.
Nevertheless, the farmers have proven resilient. "Although we may not harvest enough maize from this area, we still believe we can survive by growing winter crops. What most people would like, however, is the support from government. We need to irrigate our crops and we can only succeed if we have proper equipment," said Daniel Mwagomba, a farmer in Karonga.
An estimated 65 percent of Malawi's 12 million people live below the poverty line, so the vast majority cannot afford irrigation equipment. The government has said it would distribute about 400 treadle pumps - a simple and inexpensive human-powered pump - but farmers in most areas have not yet received them.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture Binton Kuntsaira said there were no plans to discontinue the government's subsidy programme. "Due to high maize ... production last year, government has allowed traders to sell their crops outside Malawi. This year we expect more from our farmers, and this is what the government wants. People must be able to feed themselves."
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