Malawi has start distributing free corn and cash to more than 4 million people facing food shortage largely because of the impact of cyclone Freddy, which washed away thousands of hectares of crops in March.

The move is in response to a recent report that said the situation is expected to worsen until the next harvest season in March 2024.

According to the report by the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, the number of people projected to face hunger this year in Malawi has increased to 4.4 million from 3.9 million last year.

Charles Kalemba is the commissioner of the department of disaster management affairs in Malawi. He said the hunger response effort for this year would cost Malawi about $226 million.

‘’We were able to raise about $78 million that we are going to use as cash transfers and government will prove 165,000 metrics tons to cover the deficit’’, he said.

Cyclone Freddy, which also hit Mozambique and Madagascar, killed hundreds of people and displaced more than 650,000 people. The cyclone washed away 179,000 hectares of crop fields in southern Malawi.

Maurine Likoswe is a farmer whose maize field was washed away in Chilobwe Township in Blantyre. Likoswe said she is excited about the relief program but she is hoping that the assistance reaches all the beneficiaries.

‘’We are happy and eager to receive the donation, however we wish to call this government to do things differently from the way other government has been doing. Because, sometimes what happens is that the real beneficiaries are sometimes left out and people who do not deserve to receive the items end up receiving’, said Likoswe.