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Index shows hunger worsening

 Malawi has been ranked 87 out of 121 countries facing ‘serious’ hunger, according to the 2022 Global Hunger Index (GHI) issued yesterday.

This means millions of the ultra-poor have not been lifted from their pit of food insecurity despite at least K900 billion spent on food production subsidies these past 17 years and an additional K500 billion-plis spent in the past 10 years to feed them.

A family shares a meal: Many Malawians face hunger this year

However, the country is among 32 that have seen their GHI scores decline by 50 percent or more.

The report which was presented in Lilongwe on Tuesday by Welt Hunger Hilfe and Concern Worldwide, shows that there is steady progress in combating hunger as the country has a score of 20.7 down from 24.1 in 2014.

In the year 2000, the hunger situation in the country was alarming with a score of 43.3 and by 2007 it came down to 32.5, according to the survey.

Reads the report : “ Statistics show that there is much improvement regarding under-five mortality, under-five prevalence rate of stunting and wasting. However, the proportion of the population that is undernourished is rising.”

The survey shows that hunger is at an alarming level in five countries Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar and Yemen with scores of 35 to 49.9.

Mwapata Institute, an independent agricultural policy think-tank, also says research has shown that there has been a general upward trend in food imports in the last two decades, despite government’s promotion of subsidies.

Meanwhile , agricultural policy expert Tamani Nkhono-Mvula has said the bottom line is that the country is failing to produce enough food to feed itself, a thing that can be addressed.

In a telephone interview yesterday, he observed that maize, which is a vulnerable crop in as far as climate change is concerned, is still regarded as the country’s staple food, adding that without diversifying production and food production the country will remain food insecure.

Nkhono-Mvula said: “If you look at the food basket, almost every year we are told that there is food surplus but the surplus is not only maize, but other crops that are produced, so if our mindset will not move from only relying on maize then it’s a challenge to address food insecurity issue.”

He also observed that food distribution in terms of infrastructure for markets and transport remains key, arguing that there are times the country can have a surplus but people in some areas still die of hunger. Even WFP buy maize locally and distribute it, meaning we have food in the country.”

Agricultural Extension Services director Alfred Mwenifumbo said he is optimistic that the situation will change as district agriculture offices and extension planning areas (EPAs) are under councils ,therefore initiation and refining of policies is now at district level.

He also partly blamed the sprouting of local and indigenous organisations which he said are duplicating agricultural interventions and leaving other areas unattended.

C o m m e n t i n g o n the survey, policy and advocacy manager for Concern Worldwide Twapashagha Twea Nyirenda suggested the need to involve communities so as to have ownership and guaranteed success of interventions and technologies implemented in the country.

The 2022 GHI recommends that governance measures must be tailored to local conditions and capacities. It further calls for placing the right to food and local communities at the centre of the food systems transformation. The GHI shows that global progress against hunger has also largely stagnated in recent years and that the situation is likely to worsen in the face of climate change and effects of Covid 19 as well as the war in Ukraine.

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