International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has described the country’s production system as vulnerable thereby contributing to 30 percent of Food Loss and Waste (FLW).
Recommended Stories
The policy research institute generates information for guiding policymakers in addressing issues affecting food systems as a whole from the farm, inputs, produce, and marketing through research and analysis.
The research institute then communicates this data to the policymakers through workshops to exchange the information to enable them to make informed decisions
IFPRI’s Senior Research Fellow and Head of Capacity Strengthening Dr. Suresh Babu made the observation during an interface with the media in Lilongwe on Thursday.
He said that food loss and waste is one element of the food system and contributes to climate change, through dumping of the food on the land bringing about Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions.
Dr. Babu noted that in the context of Malawi, about 30 percent of the food is wasted in terms of what can be used, more additional food that is available means the percentage of food security problems can be solved just by avoiding the loss.
“So if you had saved that 30 percent last year for example, in terms of grains in terms of extra goats without wasting them that would have been used for now for example in the difficult period and we also waste food during the functions during the ceremonies without proper planning and that requires awareness.
”In the Malawian context it’s basically food loss because the production system is vulnerable. Production system right there when the drought hits; we saw that in the last year El Nino drought you lost 30 percent of the food right on the farm that is the major thing.
“What this means is we need one to increasing the investments in the small scale irrigation systems; optimising the ground water and making sure that we have good early warning systems to forewarn that this is what is going to happen and having extra opportunities for farmers.
If one third of the crops fail, how do you use that land to plant for example sweet potato or other vegetable crops with the residual moisture that you have and come out of that crisis”
He indicated that throughout the chain, the various actors and players are affected and proposed transforming their livelihoods and the inclusion of women and the youth in the process.
The Senior Research fellow hinted that the food system transformation process is a fundamental objective for the organization which was involved in the national agricultural policy launched this week using evidence from research.
He however indicated that having policies in place is not enough as they are broad statements arguing what they address is usually long-term while food loss and crises happen year after year.
According to him, these long-term statements need to be converted into proper programmes and have to be backed up by investments and resources which require building into the farming systems on farm level to enable them get the input that they need.
Babu further said this requires current information on what kind of seed farmers can use and the varieties for the crops being produced, how they can combine crop livestock, aquaculture small group ruminants and ensuring that if one enterprise fails; they are still able to withstand the crisis.
He stressed on the need to practice crop diversification backed by agricultural research and guiding the farmers on the right investment.
The research institute which is building capacity at the district level through agricultural development programmes, pointed out that the major loss comes underground through drought and climatic factors.
