Government through the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA) has launched distribution of maize flour in Traditional Authority Msakambewa in Dowa.
Speaking on the sidelines of the distribution exercise, Minister of Agriculture, Sam Kawale, assured the people that President Dr Lazarus Chakwera has their welfare at heart.
Kawale said the President is in full cognizant of the hunger situation, the more reason his administration is engaging various partners including the World Bank and World Food Programme to support the government in alleviating the plight of vulnerable households.
“We are witnessing the distribution of food relief to some of the 29,000 beneficiaries in the district. The President has made it clear that he doesn’t want anyone to die of hunger. That’s why he’s been very proactive in talking to other partners to secure funding to procure maize, maize flour and other relief foodstuffs.
“Secondly, we don’t want to rely on rain-fed agriculture. We have lined up measures to support irrigation initiatives across the country that’s why this year the agriculture sector has allocated 30 percent of the total budget to boost agriculture productivity and ensure food security at the national level,” said Kawale.
Senior Group Thotho thanked the government for the relief saying, “The donation is timely and more households in this area are in dire need of food assistance.”
One of the beneficiaries, Bebi Dailesi said her family will now work hard in the field because of the food relief.
“It’s not easy to do manual work without eating properly, we are very appreciative of the support,” she said.
The Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee Report projected that this lean season over 4 million people will need food assistance.
Below is a clip of the donation.
