Malawi gets K265bn from World Bank
Malawi has received $265 million (about K265 billion) from the World Bank to promote resilience of the country ’s food systems and protect the economy from external shocks.
The World Bank’s executive board said in a statement on Thursday that $250 million is a grant from the International Development Association (IDA) while $15 million is a grant from the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme to increase the resilience of food systems and preparedness for food insecurity.
The new financing is part of phase three of the regional Food Systems Resilience Programme for Eastern and Southern Africa (FSRP), the bank said.
The statement further said the programme is expected to enhance the interventions of Malawi’s Agricultural Commercialisation Project (Agcom) as a pathway to “enhance resilience of food systems by introducing climate-smart agriculture and irrigation systems, investments in research and extension services as well as support to the authorities to implement resilience-enhancing policy reforms”.
World Bank country manager for Malawi, Hugh Riddell, is quoted in the statement as having expressed excitement that the country will have an opportunity “to scale this intervention nationally and collaborate and learn how to tackle food systems resilience with the other participating countries in the region”.
“Developing viable and sustainable value chains is key to national food security, as well as boosting foreign exchange for the country’s broader economic needs,” he said.
Minister of Agriculture Sam Kawale said he expects the lessons from Agcom project to improve the interventions within the new project, and by extension, “have a great impact on the overall economy”.
The Bretton Woods institution said the financial package will help Malawi establish six new irrigation schemes, support an additional 560 productive alliances that target more than 112 000 households and work with smallholder farmers to execute productivity-enhancing investments
The donation comes a day after Germany donated seven million euro (about K7.7 billion) to the World Food Programme (WFP) on Tuesday to complement the Malawi Government’s Post- Cyclone Freddy response.
In an interview on Thursday, Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources agricultural economist Horace Phiri said the financial support will complement the government’s initiatives to protect the local economy from domestic economic shocks.
He said: “We have prioritised promoting the resilience of our agriculture and food systems. It is reflected in the national development goals such as the Malawi 2063. However, it is too early to say whether it will be a success because sometimes the donors have their own priority areas.
“The focus on strengthening value chains and promoting access to markets will make Malawians more resilient when we encounter environmental and economic shocks.”
Malawi has benefitted from the second phase of the World Bank programme whose total package is $903 million alongside the African Commission which was allocated $13 million, Comoros with $40 million, Kenya given the $150 million, Somalia $150 million and Tanzania with $300 million.
