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Malawi: Millions could face 'acute hunger' by end of year
The World Food Programme (WFP) warned today that nine million people in Malawi could face "severe hunger" by the end of the year as El Niño weather patterns destroy crops.
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Mundo Malaui
The drought has severely affected the current maize harvest, resulting in an anticipated 45 percent decline compared to the last five-year average, increasing food insecurity, WFP said in a statement.
"Some 40 percent of the population could face acute hunger by the end of the year because of the drought. In addition, some 14,000 people have been displaced by floods and landslides in the northern part of the country," it said.
Malawi’s president declared a state of national disaster on 25 March, it said.
"The National Response Plan, launched in April, estimates the needs at US$449 million [about 415 million euros]. Neighbouring Zambia and Zimbabwe have also declared national emergencies due to drought," the statement said.
Visiting drought-affected areas in Malawi, the UN Climate Crisis and El Niño/La Niña Response Coordinator, Reena Ghelani, and the regional directors of WFP and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Menghestab Haile and Patrice Talla, respectively, stressed the critical need for increased international support for the government and people of Malawi.
"It is heartbreaking to see the desperation of farmers whose crops have failed through no fault of their own," Menghestab Haile was quoted as saying in the statement.
The situation is likely to worsen as food stocks have been depleted, inflation rates are high and maize prices are 40 percent higher than last year, while malnutrition cases are already on the rise, according to WFP.
The climate crisis has taken a heavy toll on Malawi, where "the scale, frequency and cost of climate shocks underscore the need for increased support to strengthen disaster preparedness and climate adaptation," Patrice Talla was quoted as saying by WFP.
The government of Malawi has appealed for support for its national irrigation strategy, which targets 54,000 hectares of land. However, efforts have been hampered by a funding gap: only 40 percent of the required funding for 2023 has been secured, it said.
This year’s rainy season, which normally runs from March to May and affects the whole of eastern Africa, has been intensified by the El Niño weather phenomenon, a climate pattern caused by warmer-than-average sea temperatures in the Indian Ocean.
Read Also: Global cholera screening campaign launched in Malawi (Portuguese version)
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