Delayed rainfall to affect harvest in South
The Famine Early Warning System (Fewsnet) has cautioned that delayed rainfall in the 2013/14 farming season is likely to result in poor harvest in the Southern Region.
The start of the agriculture season was delayed across parts of the Central Region and most of the South by 20-30 days.
“This will result in a delayed start of green consumption and this will lengthen the amount of time poor rural households will have to manage without access to food supplies from their main harvest,” says a Fewsnet report released on Friday.
It states that crops in the South that were planted late due to the delayed rains could face severe moisture stress if a mid-season dry spell [around February] occurs.
“This dry spell could moderately-to-severely affect late planted crops, potentially impacting yield and production levels in the 2013/14 season, reads the report.
The humanitarian response plan for 1.9 million people, the report says is adequately funded and should improve acute food insecurity levels in areas of concern in the North, Central, and Southern regions. Minimal outcomes are expected from April to June, once household access to food increases with the new harvest.
During the first quarter of the outlook period, maize prices are likely to remain above last year’s levels and the five year average due to reduced local supplies in the lean period, high source market prices and increasing transportation costs.
Malawi is now battling an armyworm outbreak which threatens to worsen food security in the country.
There are also concerns about a potential red locust infestation during the coming months in the Lake Chilwa and Lake Chiuta plain districts of Machinga, Zomba and Phalombe.
I am surprised why people should start to get all sorts of nightmares when our only Dr. the President of Malawi prophesied that there will be hunger in the country, that this phenomenon shows it’s ugly face every ten years. This is why she has taken it to herself to be on the road day in day out distributing maize, goats/cows and blankets. Let her continue to give back the food stuff because it belongs to them and not her. In normal cases God has his own ways to punish impunity but unfortunately the punishment affects innocent people on behalf of Jezebel, possibly the reasons behind their shouldering the pangs of the Almighty’s punishment is the people’s blind support of the “devil” – until such a time when people ceases to tow the untowable these natural disasters are here to stay; “My people are dying because of lack of knowledge”, says The Lord.