Food security scheme launched

Malawi’s government last week launched a US $29 million food security scheme to boost agricultural productivity by providing 2.8 million farming households with free fertiliser and seeds, media reports said on Monday. The World Bank has contributed US $12 million to the scheme, while the British government has come up with US $4.4 million and the government has contributed to the remainder from its coffers. This is the second year in which the government provides what it calls starter packs, in volumes enough to cultivate tiny household plots of about 0.1 hectare, to enable the households meet their basic daily nutritional requirements. Malawi, whose annual domestic maize needs are estimated at 1.9 million mt, has an agriculture-based economy and about 60 percent of its population derive the largest portion of their livelihoods from off-farm income-generating activities. Last year’s initiative was widely criticised as ineffective after many households who received the “packs” sold their allocations to buy food.