Malawi Facing “a looming hunger situation”: Catholic Bishops’ Commission

CCJP officials in Malawi reveal that some families have started feeding on wild tubers for survival “and this is not acceptable.”

The CCJP officials say the prevailing situation in the Southern African nation is “a recipe for a man-made humanitarian calamity unless the Government takes bold measures to arrest the danger.”

They also express concern about uncertainties regarding the procurement of fertilizer under AIP.

“This is of serious concern and worry,” CCJP officials in Malawi say, and add, “The hiccups in the implementation of the AIP this year is a huge setback to the realization of food security at both household and national levels.” 

Failure to procure fertilizer “is inviting more troubles to the already frail and limping Malawi's socio-economic environment,” CCJP officials say.

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They call on Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera-led government to “take bold decisions to address the hunger situation by, among other things, reorganizing ADMARC to play its rightful role on the commodity market and exploring other measures of producing the much-needed commodity through irrigation in mega-farms.”

Malawian government, they say, “should urgently roll out an emergency food distribution initiative to bail out the socio-economically marginalized and vulnerable households from acute hunger.”

“A healthy population effectively and efficiently contributes to the development of the nation,” officials of the ECM entity say in the October 3 statement following their quarterly meeting.

Magdalene Kahiu is a Kenyan journalist with passion in Church communication. She holds a Degree in Social Communications from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA). Currently, she works as a journalist for ACI Africa.