Government has said over 1 million Malawians will need food relief as they will not be able to meet their annual food requirement during the 2019/2020 consumption period.

Secretary to Treasury, Cliff Chiunda, has revealed this through a press statement issued Thursday.

In the statement, the government said the estimation is from an annual food security assessment exercise carried out by the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Development, through the Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee.

“This is the first evaluation. We will have another one soon and so many things will change. The government in collaboration with development partners will be implementing interventions to assist the affected population,” said Chiunda.

The results of the assessment show that over the majority of those that are in need are in rural areas where about 14.7 million Malawians live.

Chiunda said government in collaboration with development partners will be implementing interventions to assist the affected population.

Government has further indicated that it needs about 33, 810 metric tons of maize valued at K6.76 billion and vegetable oil pegged at K2.24 billion to supported vulnerable people.

According to the government’s records, this year’s affected population is lower compared to last year’s when a total of 3, 306,405 people were affected.

A recent visit to Phalombe District discovered that most people are already in need of food causing some men to be flocking to Mozambique to fetch for piece work to feed their families.