Reports indicate an increase in vulnerability

Reports from World Food Programme (WFP) implementing partners pointing to an increase in food insecurity in Malawi mean that WFP is having to revise its programming targets. In its latest situation report WFP said a "growing number of food insecure areas" were being reported in the northern region of the country, where the need was becoming greater "specifically in locations previously affected by floods and last season's prolonged dry spell". The WFP noted: "In the south, field reports confirm Lower Shire, Mulanje and Phalombe districts as the most food insecure areas, followed by Blantyre [the commercial capital], Chiradzulu, Zomba and Machinga. Traditional migration in search of food was recorded, as well as the sale of wild fruit and vegetables, firewood and charcoal." The organisation was thus having to adjust its programme as Malawi entered the lean season between the planting and harvesting periods, when people generally exhaust their food stocks. "We are trying to adjust to the needs of the people who are impacted during the lean season, but the numbers are going beyond what was originally planned," Moira Simpson, WFP joint emergency food assistance programme coordinator, told IRIN. WFP had received reports from implementing partners that more people wanted to register for food-for-work (FFW) projects. "There have been cases where people are actually doing some sort of activity, although they are not registered in FFW projects, in the hope of getting some food," Simpson said. Apart from adverse weather, a number of factors have played a role in worsening the vulnerability in some areas. The cost of agricultural inputs was one of these aggravating factors, said Simpson. "People's access to agri-inputs is something we are looking at. The cost of fertiliser is extraordinarily high - that's one major factor now. Four bags of maize would equal the price of one bag of fertiliser," she added. Smallholder farmers were the hardest hit by the increase in the cost of inputs. WFP projections indicate that it will provide food assistance to 639,915 beneficiaries this month, including the school feeding component of its programming. "For December the number [of beneficiaries] does rise in terms of our emergency and HIV/AIDS programming, but because schools will be closed our total number goes down to 525,055," Simpson explained.