Malawi Food Insecurity Analysis Report Released

26 January 2020

The new report from the IPC predicts nearly 1.9 million people in Malawi will be food insecure between November 2019 to March 2020.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) is a multi-partner initiative for improving food security. The purpose of their reports is to provide decision-makers with a rigorous, evidence- and consensus-based analysis of food insecurity, to inform emergency responses as well as medium- and long-term policy and programming.

Their most recent analysis of Malawi, issued in January 2020, predicts that in the period November 2019 to March 2020 (peak hunger season for the country), about 1.9 million people (around 13% of the population) are estimated to be in IPC Phase 3 + and require urgent action to prevent significant food consumption gaps and prevent use of negative livelihood coping strategies.

The food security situation in Malawi has been hugely effected by the availability of maize grain stocks, which struggle due to a below-average rainfall in the southern districts during growing season. This will result in a reduction of job opportunities and a surge in maize prices to 60-100% higher than the average during the Nov 2019 – March 2020 period.

Additionally, other staple foods such as cassava have had poor crop survival due to an increase in mealy-bug activity, a pest which significantly damages the crop.

More information on this report can be found here.

UPDATE: due to higher than average rainfall and increased humanitarian assistance, the IPC has issued a new update which can be found here.

As a partnership organisation, the Scotland Malawi Partnership looks to how it can assisted with threat to Malawian food security. We encourage people to support our members working in the agriculture and food security sector, such as the Scottish Fair Trade Forum, Mary’s Meals, University of Edinburgh’s Global Academy of Agriculture and Food Security and UNICEF.

If you are interested in learning more about what our members do within the food security sector, or wish to be involved in supporting the Malawian agriculture industry, we encourage you to attend our upcoming Agriculture and Food Security Forum on Friday 6 March 2020, which will be attended by members of the Kasinthula Cane Growers Association (KCG) in Malawi.