Malawi President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera has declared a State of Disaster in 23 districts affected by El Nino conditions effectively opening doors for the development partners and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to provide relief support to the survivors.
The declaration follows a series of tours President Chakwera conducted in various districts over the past 12 months to get firsthand information on how Malawians are faring against what he termed as ‘the harsh blows of climate change’.
“One clear message I have heard from Malawians in all three regions of our country is that even though Government has distributed a lot of food to reduce food insecurity, there is still a significant number of Malawians who do not have enough food,” said the President in his national address monitored on the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) on Saturday evening.
He said the declaration is effective 23rd March 2024 and applies to the following districts: Nsanje, Chikwawa, Blantyre, Thyolo, Mulanje, Phalombe, Chiradzulu, Zomba, Machinga, Mangochi, Balaka, Mwanza, Neno, Lilongwe, Mchinji, Ntcheu, Salima, Dowa, Dedza, Ntchisi, Kasungu, Nkhotakota, and Karonga.
President Chakwera said his recent visits to Nkhotakota allowed him to assess the level of devastation as well as understand the most pressing need for the farming households affected by the climatic shocks.
He said food was the most pressing need in the displacement camps he visited.
“As an immediate relief, I ordered the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA) to provide emergency food items to those camps, but the people there had already told me that the food insecurity extends beyond the camps. So to establish just how many places in Malawi were experiencing dry spells and how many. Malawians are in need of relief, I directed the Ministry of Agriculture to work with other agencies, including the Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services, the United Nations, DoDMA, and District Councils in evaluating the full extent and impact of El Nino conditions on our country and to give me a report,” he narrated.
President Chakwera stated that it is on the basis of the report that, using powers conferred upon him by Section 37(1) of the Disaster Risk Management Act (2023), he decided to declare a State of Disaster in 23 out of Malawi’s 28 districts affected by El Nino conditions.
He lamented that apart from the late and erratic onset of rains, the 23 districts experienced inadequate rains, floods, and prolonged dry spells, which have severely damaged crops and the prospects of food production.
The State President said a preliminary assessment shows that nearly two million farming households have been affected, with 749, 113 hectares of maize largely affected, representing 44.3 percent of the national crop area.
Other important crops like rice, soya beans, cowpeas, and groundnuts have also been affected, as the full report from the Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee (MVAC) will show when it comes out.
“This is devastating. It would have been devastating enough if this was the first disaster to befall us in recent times. But unfortunately, in the four years that I have been your President, this is the fourth time I have had to declare a State of Disaster. As you will recall, following the disasters of 2022 and 2023, I ordered the distribution of food assistance to food insecure households, as well as the intensification of irrigation farming under the Greenbelt Initiative and the Mega Farm Programme. The irrigation strategy alone has been targeting 54,720 hectares that require 46.97 billion kwacha to cover seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, agricultural infrastructure, and solar pumps. But before these measures have had a chance to take hold and yield fruit, we find ourselves here, hit by another disaster,” said Chakwera.
The President therefore called upon Malawians of goodwill, both here in Malawi as well as those living abroad, development partners, the international community, all relevant United Nations Agencies, the World Bank, non-governmental organizations, the local private sector, members of Parliament, and all those who have any resources in cash or kind to spare, to avail those resources as donations to the Presidential Initiative to Stop Hunger.
According to Chakawera, the initiative will be coordinated by his office through the Department of Disaster Management Affairs.
“Our initial estimate is that close to 600,000 metric tonnes of maize valued at 357.6 billion Kwacha will be required for this humanitarian response programme. Donations in cash or in kind should be sent to the Commissioner for Disaster Management Affairs, P/Bag 336, Lilongwe 3. Fellow Malawians, there is no one in this country who is at fault for any of the disasters that keep coming against us. But if we stand united and put away the politics of pettiness and negativity to confront this latest disaster, there is no one in this country who should die because of hunger. So let us once again show the world the greatness we are capable of as a people when we stand together as one nation,” he appealed.
