CAFOD highlights Malawi food distribution crisis
-20/01/06
As concern continues about
CAFOD highlights Malawi food distribution crisis
-20/01/06
As concern continues about the food crisis across southern Africa, church and development agencies report that heavy rain is hampering food distributions in the south of Malawi.
The UK-based Catholic aid organization CAFOD says that the food is intended to feed over 70,000 people who are at risk from hunger because of the current drought.
But now rain has hit the Chikwawa and Nsjane districts, causing serious flooding in six of Malawiís rivers.
The result has been the washing away of newly planted maize, millet and sorghum crops.
According to the United Nations World Food Programme (UNWFP), Malawi is one of the worst hit countries in the region in terms of food shortages.
UNWP reckons that some five million Malawians will not have enough food to eat between now and March 2006.
The Catholic Development Commission of Malawi (CADECOM), which has been running emergency food programmes in the areas affected by the drought, is monitoring the situation.
Nota Moyo, the Commissionís coordinator for the Chikwawa district, says: ìPeople had very poor crops because of drought and now their attempts to grow crops again have been ruined. The fields are almost bare, maize crops lie face down in the ground in ponds of river mud.î
Moyo continues: ìAs well as the loss of their crops, farmers have also lost their homes and livestock, as well as coping with the loss of the basic infrastructure, of the roads and bridges that have been washed away. As soon as the waters subside the food trucks will aim to reach those villages worst affected. But we also need to look at how to assist these farming communities with more seed, livestock and materials to rebuild their homes.î
CAFOD spokeswoman Nana Anto-Awuakye has recently returned from Malawi, reports Independent Catholic News. There she visited the flood and drought areas in the south of the country.
She says: ìFarmers told me that they had planted their fields three times, in the hope that their maize crop would grow. Women told me that they have had to leave their homes in search of food, often doing casual labour on big farms for very little money, neglecting their own fields and garden plots, and every day the price of maize is rising. The cost of a bag of 10 kilograms of maize is out of the reach of the poor.î
Ms Anto-Awuakye continues: ìThe people that are suffering the most are the children, sick and the elderly. Women told me about the struggle to find enough food to make one meal a day not just to feed their immediate family, but also the extended members of the family that have become their responsibility because of ill health or old age.î
Behind all of this is the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Malawians are struggling to cope during these bad times, as families take on the responsibility of caring for relatives living with HIV/AIDS.
CAFOD, the relief and development agency supported by the Catholic Bishopsí Conference of England and Wales, has donated £150,000 to support CADECOM’s emergency distributions of food baskets containing maize, beans and a corn flour blend which is high in protein and can be made into a thick porridge for the chronically ill.
[Also on Ekklesia: Malawi churches declare food crisis a national disaster; Aid agency warns of southern Africa food shortages; Gordon Brown’s africa debt action inspired by church; Christian aid agencies unite for Sudan]
CAFOD highlights Malawi food distribution crisis
-20/01/06
As concern continues about the food crisis across southern Africa, church and development agencies report that heavy rain is hampering food distributions in the south of Malawi.
The UK-based Catholic aid organization CAFOD says that the food is intended to feed over 70,000 people who are at risk from hunger because of the current drought.
But now rain has hit the Chikwawa and Nsjane districts, causing serious flooding in six of Malawi’s rivers.
The result has been the washing away of newly planted maize, millet and sorghum crops.
According to the United Nations World Food Programme (UNWFP), Malawi is one of the worst hit countries in the region in terms of food shortages.
UNWP reckons that some five million Malawians will not have enough food to eat between now and March 2006.
The Catholic Development Commission of Malawi (CADECOM), which has been running emergency food programmes in the areas affected by the drought, is monitoring the situation.
Nota Moyo, the Commission’s coordinator for the Chikwawa district, says: ‘People had very poor crops because of drought and now their attempts to grow crops again have been ruined. The fields are almost bare, maize crops lie face down in the ground in ponds of river mud.’
Moyo continues: ‘As well as the loss of their crops, farmers have also lost their homes and livestock, as well as coping with the loss of the basic infrastructure, of the roads and bridges that have been washed away. As soon as the waters subside the food trucks will aim to reach those villages worst affected. But we also need to look at how to assist these farming communities with more seed, livestock and materials to rebuild their homes.’
CAFOD spokeswoman Nana Anto-Awuakye has recently returned from Malawi, reports Independent Catholic News. There she visited the flood and drought areas in the south of the country.
She says: ‘Farmers told me that they had planted their fields three times, in the hope that their maize crop would grow. Women told me that they have had to leave their homes in search of food, often doing casual labour on big farms for very little money, neglecting their own fields and garden plots, and every day the price of maize is rising. The cost of a bag of 10 kilograms of maize is out of the reach of the poor.’
Ms Anto-Awuakye continues: ‘The people that are suffering the most are the children, sick and the elderly. Women told me about the struggle to find enough food to make one meal a day not just to feed their immediate family, but also the extended members of the family that have become their responsibility because of ill health or old age.’
Behind all of this is the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Malawians are struggling to cope during these bad times, as families take on the responsibility of caring for relatives living with HIV/AIDS.
CAFOD, the relief and development agency supported by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, has donated £150,000 to support CADECOM’s emergency distributions of food baskets containing maize, beans and a corn flour blend which is high in protein and can be made into a thick porridge for the chronically ill.
[Also on Ekklesia: Malawi churches declare food crisis a national disaster; Aid agency warns of southern Africa food shortages; Gordon Brown’s africa debt action inspired by church; Christian aid agencies unite for Sudan]