The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) says nearly 65,000 farming households in Malawi have received financial support from its agricultural insurance programme.
The payouts, amounting to U.S.$2.4 million, were provided after drought and pests destroyed crops during the 2020–2021 farming season, according to WFP.
In recent years, Malawi has experienced a rise in the frequency, intensity and unpredictability of climate shocks, perpetuating a cycle of food and nutrition insecurity.
‘This initiative has been implemented in Malawi since 2015 and is made possible through multi-stakeholder partnerships’, a WFP statement read.
‘WFP coordinates with technical departments from the government of Malawi at central and district level and with the financial support of several development partners, including the Adaptation Fund, Flanders, Germany, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States’.
In recent years, Malawi has experienced a rise in the frequency, intensity and unpredictability of climate shocks, perpetuating a cycle of food and nutrition insecurity.
According to the USAID Malawi Climate Change Fact Sheet, climate change is expected to reduce the food supply and have major implications for human welfare, harming development progress across sectors in the country.
A report by Oxfam International noted that an increase in temperatures and intense rain in Malawi over the past 40 years have led to drought and flooding, causing shorter growing seasons, poor crop yields, food shortages, hunger and the spread of disease.
‘With the changing climate, farming can be an uncertain business in Malawi, especially for smallholder farmers’, WFP Malawi Country Director and Representative, Paul Turnbull, said.
‘The recent drought saw farmers who usually harvest up to 15 bags of 50kg of maize now harvest only one bag.
‘The payouts are a springboard for farmers to continue their efforts in adapting to increased weather-related shocks and fighting food insecurity and poverty’.
In early March 2019, heavy and persistent rains caused severe flooding in several districts, especially in the southern region of the country. This was quickly followed by Cyclone Idai which submerged vast regions of southern Malawi, displacing 86,980 people.
Data from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) shows more than a third of rural households earn their livelihood only from farming or fishing and an additional 25 percent combine work on their farm with other jobs in the agricultural sector.
‘Most farmers in Malawi rely on rain-fed agriculture but with the surging effects of climate change, livelihoods are cyclically disrupted, and this fuels hunger’, Malawi’s Minister of Agriculture, Lobin Lowe, said.
‘Scaling up crop insurance can enhance people’s capacity to anticipate and withstand shocks and mitigate their effects in the long run’.
WFP called for better risk management systems and funding for governments to help climate change adaptation efforts.
Source: WFP
Photo source: FAO