Chief Mwahenga desperate over Rumphi’s food woes

Chief Mwahenga has offered a glimpse of worsening food situation in Rumphi, saying many households in his area will be hit hard with hunger unless the rural poor are empowered to embark on irrigation farming.

The drought has, at national level, lowered the country’s estimated maize production by nearly 30 percent.

According to Mwahenga, most of his subjects have no access to farm inputs as they grapple to avert an impending food disaster.

“The food shortage is no longer looming. It is already hitting us hard. We don’t know what will happen a few months from now, but it would have been better if those willing to start irrigation farming had access to planting materials,” said the chief.

Hunger in the area was imminent as early as March when President Peter Mutharika visited Rumphi North and promised that no Malawian will die of hunger despite the likelihood of food shortages caused by dry spells and floods.

According to the district’s agricultural extension and development coordinator Shakes Mwafulirwa, about 20 in 100 households have been devastated by the catastrophe, which has seen Rumphi’s projected maize output drop by almost 45 percent.

He said out of 10 250 farming families in Mhuju Extension Planning Area (EPA), some resident in Bale, Chimyanga, Mhuju and “a few other areas” have received planting materials for cassava and potatoes as well as relief maize from the World Food Programme.