Minister of Agriculture Sam Kawale presided over this year’s World Food Day at Mlooka Irrigation Scheme, Traditional Authority Nkapita in Zomba, where he assured the nation that the Malawi government is putting all necessary measures to ensure no one dies of hunger.
Kawale presided over the World Food Day commemoration under the theme: “Right to Food for Better Life and Better Future: Leave No One Behind.”
He added that it is the government’s obligation to ensure that people in Malawi have enough food for sustainable nutrition and food security, saying this was the reason the Ministry of Agriculture encourages farmers to go for irrigation farming to ensure food all year round.
“Government will also construct many roads to ensure good road network to allow easy transportation of agricultural produces to markets,” Kawale added.
Some of the partners that took part in the World Food Day commemoration were; the World Food Programme, Emmanuel International, World Vision Malawi, Mary’s Meal, Bayer Dekalb,
Apart from presiding over the World Food Day commemoration, Kawale also launched the 2024/2025 lean season food distribution to vulnerable households.
He, therefore, said this was another measure to see vulnerable households’ food secure while other vulnerable households benefit from other social protection programmes such as the Social Cash Transfer Programme (SCTP).
Kawale added that the SCTP beneficiary households receive cash to buy food while the Affordable Inputs Programme will allow farming households to buy fertilisers at subsidised prices for improved maize production.
The Minister, therefore, appealed to development partners to complement the government’s efforts to ensure food is sufficient in line with Malawi Vision 2063 on sustainable food and nutrition security.
Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Country Representative in Malawi, Zhijun Chen, said FAO will continue to partner with the Malawi Government in providing food to vulnerable households.
He added that FAO recognises that every person has the right to food for a better life and observed that about 5 million people in Malawi have no food such that FAO will partner with the government to provide relief food to such families.
Zomba District Council Chairperson Blazio Chinthenga appealed to the government to increase the number of beneficiary households in Zomba to the Lean Season Response Programme to save them from the current food situation.
73,344 people in Zomba are expected to receive 50 kilograms bag of maize for five months in the current lean season and this is an increase from 35,000 beneficiaries last season.
