Loveness Hadji’s hopes for a bountiful harvest were dashed in the 2023-2024 growing season as severe drought reduced her crops to nothing.
The 51-year-old visually impaired mother was left with no other option than to delve into begging. Today, she rejoices as the Churches Action in Relief and Development (CARD) has brought a ray of hope with a cash donation that will sustain her household in the next 5 months while empowering her to build a better tomorrow.
“Our hard work in the fields was all for nothing, as the drought destroyed our crops,” said Hadji.
Loveness is among the 1,700 households facing acute food shortage in the area of Traditional Authority Nkaya in Balaka District as a result of the El ninõ phenomenon which ravaged crops in most parts of Malawi and the Southern Africa region.
To ease the burden, the organization has on Tuesday launched a K930 million El ninõ emergency response project which will see beneficiaries receiving a cash transfer of K90,000 per month for 5 months.
Traditional Authority Nkaya says the hunger situation has reached an alarming rate in the area, hence applauding CARD for the support which he described as timely.
“Most households were relying on mangoes for their survival. But now, with the mango season coming to a close, villagers are facing a new daunting challenge—finding alternative sources of food,” said Chief Nkaya.
He further lamented that the dire food situation has also taken a toll on marriages as women are compelled to engage in transactional sex, putting them at risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
Meanwhile, CARD Executive Director Melton Luhanga has expressed his organization’s unwavering commitment to ensuring continued support to the affected households until they graduate from the hunger situation.
“The support is on top of what we are already doing in the same area as we have a running programme that looks at enhancing climate resilience among the local farmers.
“Therefore, we had fears that the programme would suffer if people do not have food and that’s the reason we came up with this additional programme for people to access food so that they can work hard in their fields,” said Luhanga.
In April this year, Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera requested in-kind and financial support towards Malawians who were affected by the El Nino-induced prolonged dry spells and floods.
CARD is implementing the 5 month-long intervention with financial support from the Canadian Foodgrains Bank and the Presbyterian World Service & Development (PWS&D).
