Norwegian Church Aid and DanChurchAid (NCA/DCA) have given cash transfers to 750 food-insecure households in Traditional Authority Kawinga in Machinga District.
The initiative gave each household K80 000 through Find Your Feet organisation.
Speaking in an interview on Friday during the distribution exercise at Mpombe Primary School, NCA/DCA senior humanitarian officer Augustine Tonde said they want to lessen starvation that has come due to crop failure in the 2023/24 growing season following El Nino-induced drought.
“We conducted a monitoring visit whose results compelled us to come with this K60 million intervention to lessen the people’s struggle so that they can buy food and other needs,” he said.
Ntaja Village Development Committee chairperson Andson Kankhomba said the beneficiaries will use the money to buy food.
He said: “We were eating chitedze [mucuna pruriens] and we are now surviving on mangoes that are going out of season.
“We are pleased that the elderly and persons with disabilities have benefitted from the initiative.”
One of the beneficiaries from Mtanu Village, Chrissy Richman, thanked the organisations for the timely assistance, saying it will help her nine-member household get food during the lean season.
“I will buy food and use some money to pay examination fees for my children,” she said.
The Danish International Development Agency (Danida) supported the cash transfer initiative.
The 2024 Malawi Vulnerable Assessment Committee Report says Machinga has over 270 000 food-insecure households.
In August this year, some people in the district made news for eating chitedze due to lack of food.
Machinga is one of the 23 districts facing hunger due to prolonged dry spells in the 2023/24 growing season.
