Malawi

The crisis in Malawi

There has been a notable effort to coordinate donor, government and NGO response to the crisis. In particular, an inter-agency Food Crisis Joint Task Force was established, with a Technical Secretariat in the Ministry of Agriculture supported by the EU and six sub-committees covering: commercial maize; information systems; humanitarian response; imports and logistics; the Strategic Grain Reserve; and food security policy and programming. This latter is tasked with producing a national food security policy over 2003-04. The humanitarian response sub-committee consists of the JEFAP NGO Consortium, and has been focussing on identifying the most vulnerable groups in Malawi. The SGR sub-committee was tasked with organizing an official investigation into allegations of improper selling at the National Food Reserve Agency in 2002.

Government's role in responding to the crisis has been hampered by a number of factors, notably: international criticism of its handling of sale of the Strategic Grain Reserve - which delayed donor response to its February 2002 emergency declaration; the suspension of budgetary support in late 2001 (partly arising from the concerns surrounding the SGR); and limited planning, coordination and implementation capacity, arising from long running budget constraints and the impact of HIV/AIDS.

The EMOP in Malawi has been significant, providing food for 3.4 million beneficiaries at its peak in early 2003. The WFP office has expanded rapidly and has been an active participant in the debate about the appropriate objective and form of the emergency and post-emergency response, pressing for continued food aid. As of early 2004, late rains have raised concerns about the 2003-04 harvest, prompting the Government of Malawi to issue a fresh emerging appeal to feed 3.5m people.

Food aid has been distributed through a JEFAP consortium of 12 international and local NGOs. A number of NGOs and civil society organisations have been active players in the debates around the crisis, in particular pressing for non-food aid accessible to HIV/AIDS-affected households. DFID, EU and USAID have been major donors. IMF has contributed a loan for replenishment of the Strategic Grain Reserve.

Unusually, there was a Learning Support Office until March 2003, hosted by the Malawi Red Cross. This tested the concept of having an independent capacity within an on-going relief operation to support learning by and between the national and international agencies involved in the response, in order to improve the quality of the operation.

Food security issues and debates

Of the countries affected by the current crisis in Southern Africa, Malawi has been at the forefront in identifying the onset of the crisis, declaring an official emergency, and considering innovative approaches for addressing key issues. Many of the big picture food security issues in the region are represented in microcosm:

• What next in terms of agricultural development models, given that the Washington consensus approach, as played out over the last decade and a half, has ensured neither food availability nor access to food?
  
• What next in terms of both economic development strategies and welfare policies, in order to strengthen access to food in the context of 15% adult population living with HIV/AIDS?
  
• What has been learnt about the institutional pre-conditions for food security, in terms of the roles, governance and accountability structures of the various different actors?

But policy debate on these issues appears to be constrained by more immediate concerns with humanitarian response, and by the lack of functioning channels for policy implementation in the context of suspension of budgetary support.

Food security stakeholders

• Parliament: parliamentary sub-committee on agriculture
  
• Government departments: especially VP's office; EP&D (including ex NEC); Agriculture; Finance; Health; Relief and Disaster Preparedness; Poverty; Commerce and Industry; MASIP
  
• Monitoring networks: especially NSO for crop forecasting; Famine Early Warning System Network; Vulnerability Assessment Committee
  
• Consortia: Food Crisis Joint Task Force; especially sub-committee on food security policy and programmes; National Aids Council
  
• Private sector: e.g. Rab Processors; Grain and Milling; NFRA; ADMARC
  
• International NGOs: e.g. Oxfam; SC; Care; Concern; Action Aid; and through JEFAP
  
• Civil society and local NGOs: e.g. CISANET; Malawi Economic Justice Network
  
• Research organisations: e.g. APRU; CSR; Institute for Policy Research; Chitedze/ICRISAT
  
• Donors: e.g. DFID; EU; USAID; World Bank
  
• UN/Humanitarian agencies: e.g. WFP; FAO; UNAIDS
  
• Farmers: e.g. through NASFAM

The Forum for Food Security in Southern Africa was introduced in Malawi in January 2003 through a roundtable meeting for stakeholders. Click here to view powerpoint presentation for this roundtable.

Participating institutions were:

• Government: Min Agriculture and Irrigation, Office of Vice President, MASIP
  
• Official donors: DFID, EC, WFP, FAO, CIDA, World Bank,
  
• NGOs: SCFUK, Concern Universal, Concern Worldwide, OXFAM, SCUS, Emmanuel International, Action Aid, World Vision, CARE, Action Against Hunger, UNICEF, Salvation Army, CADECOM, EAM, MALEZA
  
• Universities and others: Bunda College of Agriculture, ICRISAT-Malawi

The priority concerns listed during the stakeholders meeting and in other interviews were:

• Is it a food crisis or a health crisis? Note that AIDS-related deaths are currently running at an estimated 70,000 pa (7% of the population), which far outstrips both the 2-4 % "typical" excess mortality during famines identified by Devereux and the number of deaths directly attributed to food shortage in Malawi to date. What is the relationship between the HIV/AIDS crisis and the food crisis, and how has the former increased vulnerability and reduced ability to cope with shocks?
  
• What constitutes effective emergency response in high HIV/AIDS situations? The need for more comprehensive and effective social protection is acknowledged, but the national Safety Nets Programme is not currently operating due to suspension of budgetary support.
  
• The need for better information systems, e.g. crop estimates including information on access to food in addition to food availability; more comprehensive and timely trade data. Weaknesses have caused delays in response to the emergency, and make it difficult to identify the areas in which intervention will be most effective or necessary.
  

An additional question in Malawi is the extent the current crisis has arisen due to inadequate knowledge and understanding (e.g. of appropriate agricultural technologies, of appropriate grain reserve management) compared to difficulties with implementation of correctly defined policies and programmes, related to the political economy of policy making by government and donors. To the extent that there is evidence of the latter, solutions will lie in improving the institutional framework for decision-making as well as in increasing available resources.

In relation to the content and process of the Forum project, stakeholders highlighted the need for international comparative evidence to inform food security decisions; the need for small farmers' voices to be heard (including the role of Citizens Juries) and for the private sector to be involved; and the need for tools to understand how to prioritise actions in support of food security.

Next steps for the Forum for Food Security in Malawi

Malawi is currently drafting a revised national food security policy and the Forum seeks to complement this process. For the Forum for Food Security, a Country Issues Paper for Malawi was prepared by a local team and is available on this website through the publications page. The key themes are further explored in the four Forum Theme Papers. Click here for documents under Malawi section in information centre.

The Forum for Food Security in Southern Africa is contributing to national high level food security policy options seminars taking place in each focus country (ie Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe) in 2004. Click here for details of the meeting in Malawi.

The Malawi CFSO Paper will be available mid December 2004.

Contributions to and comments on the work of the Forum for Food Security relating to Malawi are warmly welcomed. Please contact Elizabeth Cromwell for country specific comments on Malawi.