Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee (Mvac) has projected the number of food-insecure families to drop to 2.6 million during the 2026/27 consumption period, representing 14 percent of the country’s population.
In its annual food security assessment results published on Wednesday and signed by Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Decentralisation Joseph Mwanamvekha, Mvac said the current projection represents a decline from the previous consumption period when four million people faced hunger.
The report further said of the total needy numbers, about 2.5 million are from rural areas, representing a 36 percent decline compared to the 2024/25 lean season while the affected population in the cities of Blantyre, Zomba, Lilongwe and Mzuzu has increased by 27 percent to 81 405 people.
Reads the report: “The decrease in the number of food-insecure people is due to favourable climatic conditions characterised by normal to above-average rainfall during the 2025/26 growing season.
“The Ministry of Agriculture has estimated maize production at 3 300 618 metric tonnes [MT] in the 2025/26 agricultural season compared to 2 859 948 metric tonnes in the 2024/25 agricultural season, representing an increase of about 15 percent.
“The government is already taking steps to assist vulnerable households; however, additional support is being requested from cooperating partners and the local private sector.”
Mvac, a multi-stakeholder group, further said that to cushion livelihoods, the vulnerable population will require humanitarian food assistance projected at 97 887MT of maize worth about K124.3 billion for a period of three to four months.
The Department of Disaster Management Affairs (Dodma), in its reaction to the report, said it will help in mobilising funds for the national response plan.
coordination. | Nation
Dodma commissioner Wilson Moleni in an interview yesterday said the department will immediately start developing the 2026/27 Lean Season Food Insecurity Response Plan, which should be ready by the first week of September for roll out in October.
“The report has been issued in time this year, and it will help us coordinate response efforts with other stakeholders. Last year, the delayed response came about because the Mvac report was released in October. That eventually led to what we saw, where people who were supposed to be reached with assistance were not,” he said.
Centre for Social Concern economic governance programmes officer Agnes Nyirongo said the number of food-insecure people provides government with a starting point and called on it to focus on the struggling urban population as well.
She said government must intervene while also planning ahead to avoid a similar situation next year.
In a separate interview, Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (Luanar) Centre for Agricultural Research and Development (Card) director Innocent Pangapanga Phiri said the focus should be on replenishing the country’s strategic maize grain reserves.
He said the urban population facing food insecurity should also be considered in various interventions.
“With the figures presented, I would suggest that interventions such as irrigation farming should be considered. Those who are food insecure in urban areas should also be taken care of through social safety nets,” said Pangapanga Phiri who is also an agricultural economist.
Another agricultural economist Tamani Nkhono Mvula said that with the anticipated El Niño, the number of Malawians expected to face hunger could increase, and the report presents an opportunity for Malawi to prepare.
During the 2025/26 consumption period, about four million people representing 22 percent of the country’s projected population of 18.5 million then faced hunger.
To bridge the food gap, the government imported 200 000MT of maize from Zambia.
In 2024/25, about 6 188 379 people were in need of food aid.
