Urgent action needed as El Nino drought forces Malawi to

declare a food emergency

The international community must act swiftly and decisively on the Malawi Governments
declaration of emergency where people are facing worsening hunger because of El Ninorelated drought and country-wide crop failures.
Oxfam, Concern Universal, Concern Worldwide, Save the Children and GOAL said the
Government of Malawis declaration was a much-needed acknowledgement of the scale of
the problem and should send a strong signal to donors to act quickly.
Yesterdays declaration of emergency recognises the severity of the situation in the
country, said John Makina, Oxfam in Malawis Country Director. Ordinary Malawians should
not have to go to bed hungry every night. All of us - government, NGOs and international
donors - need to work together to ensure that everyone has access to enough food for
themselves and their families.
President Peter Mutharika declared the emergency following a crop assessment process
conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development. This indicates
that maize production will be down 12 percent from last years poor season, or 33 percent
less than the five year average.
The 2015 harvest has been ruined by extensive flooding in parts of the country, and poor
rains elsewhere. At the end of 2015, 2.8 million people were facing hunger and food
insecurity. This years El Nino weather phenomenon, supercharged by climate change, has
again left harvests decimated across the Southern Region in particular.
Climate change will make future weather events like these kinds of drought more frequent.
In the face of this - the new normal - we must support people to build their resilience against
climate shocks and weather events like El Nino, said Paul Armour, GOAL Malawis Country
Director.
The impacts of this El Nino are likely to last until the next harvests in March 2017.
It is imperative to protect lives in the short term but also to find ways of ensuring that
peoples resilience to devastating drought is increased, such as through climate smart
agriculture. Greater political accountability and transparency in the investment of funds for
food security is also key, said Concern Worldwides Country Director, Caoimhe Debarra.
Malawi is not alone in facing the consequences of El Nino. Much of Southern Africa has
been affected, which has brought drought across large parts of the region, and in some
areas, flooding. In March, SADCs Council of Ministers endorsed a decision to declare a
regional emergency in response to the drought.
Together with the government, we will do all we can to support ordinary Malawians, said
Matthew Pickard, Save the Children Country Director. We need the immediate, swift and
generous support of donors and international partners. //END