Improved targeting and tailoring of input subsidy programmes based on agro-ecological zones has emerged as one key strategy to mitigate the effects of El Nino weather condition in the 2026/27 growing season.
Through a brief titled ‘Godzilla’ El Niño on its way? Implications for Southern Africa’, Centre for Agricultural Research and Development (Card) under Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (Luanar) and Marondera University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (Muast) in Zimbabwe alongside the National Food and Nutrition Commission of Zambia and Clim-Eat have recommended that Malawi’s Northern and Southern regions should ideally have different input programmes.
The brief observes that while it is likely that inorganic fertilisers will produce good yields in Northern Region, the same cannot work in the Southern Region.
It further indicated that rainfall predictions are more complicated, with Northern Zambia and Northern Malawi expected to receive above-average rainfall while southern parts of the two countries could be expected to have below-average rainfall.
“Zambia and Malawi have opportunities for good crop production in their northern regions to partly offset the challenges in the rest of the country,” reads the brief.
The brief, whose lead consultant is Innocent Pangapanga Phiri from Card, has also recommended strengthening early warning systems for flash floods, cash for work programmes, strategic food reserves but also unconditional cash transfers to build longer term resilience.
Last week, Principal Secretary for Irrigation and Water Development Faides Mwale said preparations ahead of El Niño weather phenomenon include the rehabilitation of 200 non functional boreholes and the construction of 100 climate resilient boreholes nationwide.
The Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee estimates that the number of food-insecure families will fall to 2.6 million during the 2026/27 consumption period, representing 14 percent of the country’s population.ax
