Govt to provide special package to farmers affected by cyclone

Government is planning to provide a special package to farmers whose crops and animals were washed away by raging waters in some parts of the Southern Region, the Minister of Agriculture Sam Dalitso Kawale has said.

Kawale made the remarks in Lilongwe on Tuesday when he received, on behalf of the Malawi Government, an MK8 billion direct budgetary aid to Malawi from Norway.

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The direct budgetary aid from Norway has excited Malawians who believe this could herald the resumption of direct budgetary support by other development partners.

Malawi’s development partners stopped providing direct budgetary aid to Malawi during the previous administration because of theft and plunder of public resources.

Hence, speaking when he received a financial package to Malawi, Kawale commended Norway for the timely support.

He said the money will go towards supporting farmers who have lost their crops through the Tropical Cyclone Freddy.

“Shortly our team will be deployed to the affected areas for full scale assessment to determine the loss of animals and crops,” said Kawale.

In his remarks, Norwegian Deputy Minister of International Affairs Cooperation, Bjorg Sandkjaer, observed that Malawi is undergoing a difficult situation because of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

Sandkjaer said the war has a global impact, especially in African countries.

“Russia’s illegal war on Ukraine has global repercussions, impacting African countries in particular. That is why Norway steps up its support with an extraordinary allocation to assist developing countries who are severely affected by the consequences of this war,” he said.

The Deputy Minister said a year has passed since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and that many developing countries are harshly affected by the consequences of the war, which added to an already challenging economic situation.

He said pressure on food production and global supply chains has driven the cost of fertilizer and energy up, resulting in more hunger, more people into poverty and more distress.

The humanitarian needs are record high. The United Nations assess that more than 10% of the world’s population will not have enough access to food. It is within this backdrop that Norway has allocated extraordinary funds for 2023 to vulnerable populations who are harshly impacted by the global consequences of the war.

“The extra allocation is part of a broader support plan to alleviate suffering resulting from Russia’s war on Ukraine. For Malawi, Norway is increasing its support with 60% (increase of USD 6 million/6 billion malawian kwacha) to the agriculture sector for 2023,” he said.

He said the extra allocation under what is being called “south-package” is part of a broader support plan to alleviate suffering resulting from Russia’s war on Ukraine.

He said the support is meant to cushion some of these negative effects.

“We see that the repercussions of Russia’s illegal war against Ukraine is affecting countries like Malawi the hardest and this extraordinary support is meant to cushion some of these negative effects to support Malawi in lifting more people out of poverty, food insecurity and distress,” said the Deputy Minister.