Britain will be a major sponsor of this year’s programme to distribute free maize seeds and fertiliser to farmers in famine-hit Malawi, Agriculture Minister Aleke Banda said on Wednesday.
Banda said the $28-million scheme, to be introduced before the rains start in October, will target $2,8-million farmers and is expected to yield 2,5-million tons of maize, slightly more than the national requirement.
He said the scheme had been steadily trimmed — from three million beneficiaries in 1999 to one million last year ? over fears that Malawi would become dependent on handouts, but that donors had decided to re-launch it in view of the current famine.
The southern African country is experiencing its worst hunger crisis in 50 years.
”The hunger this year has convinced donors to agree to start supporting us in implementing a fully-fledged ‘starter-pack’ scheme,” Banda said.
The government hopes the programme will enable the farmers to increase their production five-fold. This will be the fifth time, since 1998, that government and donors will have tried to avert food shortages by giving farmers free inputs.
Malawi produced more than two-million tons of maize in 1999, a national record after free inputs were given to three million farmers.
Food security is a pressing issue in Malawi. Despite a huge fresh water supply in Lake Malawi, fields have little irrigation and most farming is done on a small-scale level.
President Bakili Muluzi has declared the country in a state of national disaster and asked for $21-million in international assistance for food relief.
Up to 76% of Malawians lack food and more than 300 people are reported to have died of hunger this year. – Sapa-AFP