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In response to the recent El Niño phenomenon that has left a large number of Malawians in severe hunger, the World Food Programme (WFP) has revealed that it has ordered a total of 29,000 metric tons of maize, which will be distributed to affected families in the country starting October this year.
WFP Malawi Country Director Paul Turnbull briefed the media at the WFP office in Blantyre on the hunger situation and how the organization is ready to work with the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA) to help Malawians escape hunger.
“The El Niño phenomenon that the country experienced between 2023 and 2024 affected crop production due to prolonged drought and caused many households to face food insecurity.
“We currently have over 1,300 metric tonnes of maize arriving in the country from Tanzania and stored in our warehouses and we are waiting for the rest of the trucks to arrive and start distributing to Malawians in need,” Turnbull said.
Moses Chimphepo, Director of Disaster Preparedness and Response at DoDMA, said the famine impact caused by El Nino is very worrying as it affects about 5.7 million people who require more than 261,000 metric tons of maize aid.
But Chimphepo said his department was redoubling its efforts to provide assistance to the affected families and currently DoDMA was working with the National Food Reserve Authority (NFRA) and Admarc to start delivering food to famine-affected areas to ease the challenges.
“So far, WFP and DoDMA have successfully completed 46 percent of the resource mobilization and we expect to start registering maize assistance to Malawians next month,” Chimphepo said.
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