Famine hits Rumphi communities

have asked government to provide their subjects with urgent relief food.

The villagers in Ng’onga have been hit by hunger, having fallen victim to a dry spell that affected some parts of the country and scorched their fields.

In an interview on Saturday, Traditional Authority (T/A) Chisovya urged government to urgently react to the famine.  He said that if the government does not react in time, most of his subjects, who he says are living on one meal a day or sleeping on an empty stomach, might die of hunger.

“People here are hard workers. They are farmers, but this year the rains haven’t been favourable. We experienced a  dry spell and most people lost their crops.

“We can’t blame anyone because government also provided us farm inputs, but the dry spell let us down. We are calling on government to provide food assistance. The situation is not good here,” he  said.

Minister of Transport and Public Works Jappie Mhango assured the communities that government has enough maize in stock.

“The President has always emphasized that he will not allow anyone in this country to die of hunger. We have maize stock for two years which is enough to feed the country. I will pass the message and be assured that the relief is coming. The President is a caring President that is why he ensured that Malawi has enough food and that maize is not sold outside before ensuring that we have enough here,” he  said.

He also urged people to embark on irrigation farming, saying the area has water bodies that can enable irrigation farming and improve food security. He said government will consider providing farm inputs.