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| Tending to the bean crop. (© CARE 2002/Courtesy CARE UK) |
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Floods and drought have ravaged communities throughout this poverty-stricken nation, creating massive food shortages that affect as many as 3.2 million people, about 30 percent of the total population.
Most households are unable to grow enough maize, the national staple food, to sustain the family. Tropical Storm Delfina exacerbated the crisis, damaging crops and destroying infrastructure. A late start to the winter planting season has also raised fears that this years crop harvest will be a bad one. There is an ongoing shortage of maize seed, which is causing additional delays to the planting season. Due to the late start of the season, food aid is required to keep people from starving.
Malawi's situation is exacerbated by food shortages elsewhere in the region, making it more difficult for the impoverished country to buy sufficient amounts of imported food. As in other areas in southern Africa, many rural residents of Malawi have been forced to live off wild foods, which are dwindling fast. Households also have been forced to sell off assets, including livestock, which are being sold for less than half their normal price.
CARE's Response
CARE is working with organizations including the World Food Programme to distribute food and manage a supplementary feeding project that addresses malnutrition among children and pregnant and nursing mothers.
CARE also is distributing cassava cuttings to farmers as well tools and drought-resistant crop seeds to rural families whose seed stocks have been depleted in the past year.
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