‘People eating wild tubers to survive hunger’

Hunger and poverty have reached alarming levels in the country with some households coping with the situation by eating wild tubers and husks, the Centre for Social Concern (CfSC) has said.

Speaking during this year’s Basic Needs Basket (BNB)—a monthly review of the cost of living through surveys—annual evaluations on Monday in Lilongwe which included data collectors from across the country, to give qualitative experience on levels of hunger and poverty in the country, the team added that people are even sleeping and fighting at Admarc depots to access maize.

The team which included both rural and urban data collectors said poverty and hunger are a reality in the country and Malawians are doing despicable things to survive.

“Some people are involved in prostitution and transactional sex to fend for their families. Some people are winnowing at mills to get husks to eat while others pick in dustbins and beg to survive the current hunger,” said one data collector from Dedza.

Speaking after the presentations in an interview, CfSC social conditions research programme officer Alex Nkosi said the situation on hunger and poverty is dire, especially with the recent withholding of aid by the country’s major donors.

“The economy had started to stabilise, but recently things have started to change. Food prices have started to rise due to current lean period. The economy is vulnerable now due to the holding of aid by the country’s major donors and the future looks grim,” said Nkosi.

The November 2013 BNB for Malawi’s four cities—Lilongwe, Zomba, Blantyre and Mzuzu—shot by an average 3.4 percent to K109 183 largely propelled by a rise in food prices.

In the month, the food basket which includes maize, milling, usipa and cooking oil shot by about six percent to an average K62 417 for a household of six members.

Recently, the Malawi Vulnerable Assessment Committee (Mvac) increased the number of people that would require food assistance at the peak of the lean period between January and March from 1.5 million people to 1.8 million.

But recently principal secretary and commissioner of disaster affairs, Jeffrey Kanyinji was quoted in The Nation having said that their estimation stands at 1.9 million people.

He noted that the increase in the number of people requiring food certainly means that they will require more resources, but noted that their partners which include the World Food Programme (WFP) are experienced and will deal with the logistical problems associated with the food distribution across the country.

Experts and authorities have said the food shortage may trigger a rise in inflation which increased to 22.2 percent in October while the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) recently announced it would further tighten the monetary policy to rein in inflation.