Malawi hit by drought crisis

2005-08-03 12:19

Domasi - From her small piece of land, 36-year-old Malawian farmer Margaret Chisale had hoped to harvest six bags of maize this year.

But her hopes evaporated as the worst drought in 13 years took hold in Malawi, one of the world's poorest countries where 80% of the population of 11 million rely on subsistence farming to eke out a living.

"I only harvested one bag and the maize is already gone," Chisale said from her home in the Domasi area in Zomba.

Chisale is now trying to find other means of survival for her family of six children.

Up to 4.2 million Malawians are facing hunger after the drought sent maize production, the main staple food, plummeting by 24%.

"This is the worst drought since 1992," said the director of meteorological services Donald Kamdonyo.

"The drought happened at the most critical point for the growth of maize," he added.

Lack of rain

The planting season started off well in December with normal rainfall but in January 20 of Malawi's 28 districts were experiencing dry spells that lasted the entire month.

Although there were heavy rains in February, it was "too late for crops to recover", said Kamdonyo.

A final crop assessment made in April showed that maize production stood at 1.3 million tons, far short of the 2.1 million tons needed to stave off famine.

Malawi now plans to import 300 000 tons of the staple from South Africa.

The United Nations has called on donors to increase financial support to farmers.

"It's much cheaper for donors to help the poorest of farmers grow their own food than constantly go about running looking for food aid," said Jeffrey Sachs, special advisor to the United Nations secretary-general on Monday after a visit to Malawi.

"This country needs help - a significant amount of aid. This is the time and donors should think ahead if Malawi is to have a good harvest next year," said Sachs after meeting with President Bingu wa Mutharika.

Restricting exports

Mutharika last week slapped a ban on maize and fertilizer exports as part of a series of emergency measures to deal with the threat of famine and launched a "Feed the Nation" campaign to collect donations for the needy.

"From today no maize should be exported to other countries because we have to feed ourselves first," the president said at the opening of a new Taiwanese-owned fertilizer company in the capital Lilongwe.

The ban was seen as an attempt to clamp down on the thriving unregulated trade of cheap Malawi maize and fertilizer in Zambia and Tanzania.

But Mutharika has not appealed for international food aid and the government blames poor irrigation for the shortfalls.

Despite a huge fresh water supply from Lake Malawi, Africa's third largest lake, fields have little irrigation and most farming remains small-scale, dependent on rain.

"It's embarrassing to keep on begging for food when you have the lake and rivers," said Andrew Daudi, principal secretary of agriculture.

- AFP