Director of Disaster Preparedness and Response for DoDMA, Reverend Moses Chimphepo said this in Blantyre during a joint press briefing with the World Food Programme on the status of procurement of maize for the national El Nino response.

Chimphepo said people who were affected by the effects of El Nino in the 2023/24 growing season will require relief aid in form of maize and other food supplies amounting to 261, 000 metric tonnes across the country.

“Our resource mobilisation drive for food only is at 46 percent; Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee (MVAC) report that weve received indicates at least 5.7 million Malawians will need food aid between October 2024 and March 2025,” Chimphepo said.

Chimphepo said the MVAC report provides for a two-pronged response whereby distribution of relief food in the first phase would be carried out in June and September targeting 4.2 million people while the second phase would roll out in October through to March reaching out to 5.7 million people.

On the other hand, Chimphepo said government is currently encouraging affected households to embark on irrigation farming as one way of cushioning the lean season period, noting that recovery to disasters was necessary in building resilience.

Chimphepo said apart from food distribution, DoDMA and other development partners are running parallel social protection programmes including disbursement of social cash transfers to ensure peoples livelihoods were safeguarded.

He also disclosed that DoDMA is building the capacity of governance structures at council level to register only eligible beneficiaries for the food distribution exercise, saying: “We would like to get rid of ineligible people benefitting from the programme.”

Country Director and Representative of WFP in Malawi, Paul Turnbull said the organisation responded swiftly to calls by President Lazarus Chakwera following the declaration of 23 districts as disaster prone as a result of either dry spells or drought during the growing season.

“We have procured about 30, 000 metric tonnes from international markets including WFP Tanzania. Today, we are witnessing the arrival of trucks carrying over 1374 tonnes for distribution to various districts. This food will reach all the destination points very soon.

“Food is a human right and no one should be denied that right,” Turnbull said.

“Apart from the food, WFP has also joined other United Nations agencies in cash disbursement as a response to the disaster because of the magnitude of the El Nino,” he said. “In fact, WFP was already buying the maize through our global management facility.”

Earlier in March this year, President Chakwera declared a state of disaster in 23 out of 28 districts affected by El Nino conditions, citing inadequate rains, floods, prolonged dry spells that damaged crops and affected food production.