Dodma channels K17.3bnhelp to crop production
Department of Disaster Management Affairs (Dodma) will give Ministry of Agriculture $10 million (about K17.3 billion) to boost maize production as part of the national disaster response plan.
The funds are part of the $56.7 million that the World Bank contributed through the Catastrophe Deferred Drawdown Option (Cat-DDO), a form of contingent financing designed to help countries take a proactive stand towards reducing exposure to catastrophic risk and access funds immediately after a natural disaster.
In a telephone interview yesterday, Commissioner for Disaster Management Affairs Charles Kalemba said the disbursement to the ministry is in line with its department’s strategy to promote resilience through production, marking a departure from the country’s reliance on donor handouts.
He said: “Our strategy is focusing on resilience. So, we want to move from the old model that depended on begging and handouts.
“We want to capacitate local farmers and government institutions to grow our crops to ensure the people affected by the floods have enough to eat.”
The support follows the damage to farmlands caused by El Nino weather phenomenon, which caused prolonged dry spells in some parts of the Southern Region and above-average rainfall in the Northern Region.
Official estimates show that the erratic weather patterns affected 44.3 percent of the national crop area and left over two million households facing acute food shortages.
In a separate interview, Ministry of Agriculture Principal Secretary for Irrigation Services Geoffrey Mamba said the funds will be split into two core functions, providing financial support for the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) to buy maize and support local farmers.
He said: “First, we will target 26 commercial farmers with existing land and irrigation equipment to cultivate about 3 878 hectares of land. They will receive funding to produce and sell maize directly to NFRA.
“The second will focus on irrigation support. Farmers with land, but lacking irrigation will benefit from service providers conducting hydrological surveys, drilling boreholes, and establishing irrigation systems.”
The funds, along with the budgetary allocation to the NFRA and the World Bank’s previous $15 million disbursement to both NFRA and the Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) for relief maize purchases, are expected to ease the food shortage that has hit the country.
However, Mamba estimated that a 200 000 metric tonnes (MT) deficit will remain even after taking into account the interventions implemented by government.
The impact of the El Nino weather phenomenon compelled President Lazarus Chakwera to declare a State of Disaster in 23 out of the country’s 28 districts.
The President said the country needs 600 000MT of maize valued at K357.6 billion for the humanitarian response.
Preliminary estimates in March showed that about two million farming households were affected, with 749 113 hectares of maize affected.
