The lean season brings food insecurity hot-spots

Pockets of food insecurity are emerging in Malawi as the country enters the traditional "lean season" between harvests, when food stocks generally run out. In its latest situation report the World Food Programme (WFP) noted that "field reports from the Blantyre sub-office indicate that the food security situation in [the surrounding districts of] Thyolo, Mbawela and Thukuta is deteriorating, with food insecurity affecting 58 to 70 percent of farming households". A lack of food at government depots had also resulted in an increase in maize prices, the report added. WFP expects to feed about 676,000 people at the peak of the lean season, information officer Antonella D'aprile told IRIN on Tuesday. "We're looking at a food security situation that might vary according to the rainfall pattern. The rains are late, but no warning has so far been sent out by government or the agro-meteorological centre here in Blantyre," D'aprile said. The agency has been monitoring the availability of food stocks. "There have always been [food insecurity] hot-spots in Malawi ... we are trying to concentrate our activities in those areas, instead of spreading our programmes to less food insecure districts," D'aprile said. The sub-offices reported households without food, and even families "who had run out of food two months ago". "So there is some concern. We are really trying our best, in joint efforts with our partners, to go to the field and do rapid assessments. By mid-January we ... [will] have more information, as nutritional surveys are rolling at the moment and there has been a joint rapid assessment by UN agencies, government and NGOs," D'aprile confirmed. WFP was concentrating on assisting households with chronically ill members, pregnant and lactating women, and malnourished children under five years old. D'aprile added that some communities in food insecure areas were also being assisted through food-for-work activities.