Filed under Agriculture

For the fifth year running, Malawi is producing more food than is needed to feed its population. So why do so many in Southern Malawi face high food insecurity?

Many Southern regions have suffered dry spells this year, reducing their maize harvests to a level insufficient to feed their populations. Most Malawians rely primarily on their own maize crops to feed themselves and their families. But the dry spell has also hit cash crops, so that even those earning money are less able to purchase maize on the market. The Malwian government has good reserves of maize in storage… But now it seems they may lack the means to transport those reserves to the people who need them.

The situation is causing a political storm, with Malawi’s President- Bingu wa Mutharika- denying that many face food insecurity, and threatening to close down  newspapers that claim otherwise. Mutharika had previously won great political support for improving food security through an agricultural subsidy scheme.

See here for the full IRIN article.

IRIN offer some interesting articles exploring the impact of the floods in Pakistan.

This first one includes interviews with five families, which give an insight into the disparities in conditions, especially the availability of food, in different regions.

loss of trees before and after the floods in Pakistan.

Firewood and trees were washed away with the floods. As a result, women must sometimes search for up to two hours to find enough- and sufficiently dry- firewood to cook just one meal. Food sources like fruit trees and vegetables have also been destroyed.

It’s thought that previous deforestation in Pakistan exacerbated the damage caused by the floods.

“About 4.1 percent of Pakistan’s land area is forest, according to the government. At current rates of deforestation (2-2.4 percent), forest cover would be down to half of its 1995 extent by 2019-2024″.

See the full article here.

Farmers in Western Kenya have relied on the forecasts of their indigenous ‘weathermen’ -the Nganyi rainmakers- for generations. The Nganyi work:

…[b]y observing subtle changes in nature… – air currents, bird songs, termite behaviour, the flowering and shedding of leaves, even the croaking of frogs and toads.

But climate change has caused rapid shifts in weather patterns, which the Nganyi have been unable to predict using such traditional methods. For a community that survives on subsistence farming, this has caused major problems. And unfortunately, locals do not trust, so ignore, the forecast of ‘Western’ meteorologists, who are seen as outsiders.

Thankfully though, a cooperative solution has been found!

Now, meteorologists collaborate with the indigenous weathermen each season to share their predictions and produce a consensus forecast. Once approved, the Nganyi relay it back to the villagers in the appropriate local languages, through traditional ceremonies and meetings.

…[T]he results so far have been good: the forecasts from both sources have been accurate… the rainmakers’ role has been restored and the local farmers are able to better protect their crops.

See the full report at Positive News, here.

In January, residents of Southern Sudan will vote in a referendum to decide whether to secede from the North. It is expected the country will, as a result, split in two, leading thousands to migrate back ‘home’ to the South:

“A lot of people came just before the census, more came just before the elections,” said Matthew Abujin, Southern Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (SSRRC) secretary in charge of Central Equatoria. “With the referendum, we are expecting a very big number. Nobody wants to stay on the wrong side of the border.” 

However, the region has recently suffered drought, violence and instability and the UN’s World Food Program, who were hoping to reduce aid to the region, now expect serious food shortages, and an increased need for food aid.

Source: IRIN. See here for the full IRIN report.

Over a third of Yemenese are now food insecure. The problem is worst in rural areas, where most meals consist in just tea and bread, and 62.1% of children are stunted due to malnutrition.

Several explanations have been offered for Yemenese food insecurity: the decline in grain production due to internal conflict; decreasing water resources (Yemen has a “per capita water consumption of about 125 cubic metres a year, against a global average of 7,500 cubic metres”); high fertility rates (6.7 in rural areas); poor education and, perhaps most staggeringly:

…the increased cultivation of ‘qat’ [also written as ‘khat’-GWWC], a mildly narcotic, water-thirsty plant chewed by many Yemenis... 70 percent of Yemen’s arable land is used for growing ‘qat’, while the country “annually imports 2.5 million tons of wheat”

See here for the very interesting report from IRIN.

In rural Chad, “cattle are currency, the down-payment on ceremonies, a savings plan during sickness and emergency food in lean times”. But recent severe drought there has caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of these cattle, and approximately a third of livestock overall.

One farmer, who lost 70 of his 100 cows in 2009, explained, “There used to be trees the animals could rest under; now there is no more shade… I live from these animals.”

The government has begun planting a 40km belt of trees to hold back the desert (many cattle deaths are attributable to the increasing lack of shade as trees wither in the drought), and the UN will be distributing 615 tonnes of food for 45,000 animals. 45,000 is, however, a tiny proportion, given that 780,000 cattle (worth $460m) died in 2009 alone.

See here for the full IRIN article.

A recent initiative in Kenya allows farmers to insure their crops against bad weather. Farmers pay an extra 10% for seeds, and register the seed type purchased and location of their plot using their mobile phones. This enables their nearest weather station to be identified.

“Weather stations monitor rainfall amount and distribution in the field, which are then compared with the crop’s water requirement vis-à-vis historic rainfall patterns. In case of crop failure due to drought or too much rain, farmers will receive a text message informing them of a payout“

Apparently, many of the farmers thought this scheme was “too good to be true”! As the article highlights,

“For farmers the biggest risk is weather. To minimize exposure, they tend to use as little inputs as possible. As a consequence, their harvest is below the optimum even when rains are good. Insurance gives them the security of a payout in case of a full crop failure, therefore promoting investment in farming inputs and subsequently improving productivity”

See here for the full article.