BY OUR CORRESPONDENT
BLANTYRE– Malawi’s success story in the attainment of food security and surplus bumper harvest, courtesy of government’s subsidised fertiliser programme is just fluke as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in its 2007/2008 Human Development Report, tells both how climate change paints a bleak picture for Malawi.
The UNDP report says climate change models paint a bleak picture for Malawi’s agriculture, which is the backbone of its agro-based economy.
According to the report the combination of higher temperatures and less rain will translate into a marked reduction in soil moisture, affecting the 90 percent of smallholder farmers who depend on rain-fed production.
“Production potential for maize, the main smallholder food crop, which in a normal year is the source of three-quarters of calorie consumption, is projected to fall by over 10 percent,” reads the report in part.
And to complicate the matters, Malawi now is at risk of being hit by natural disasters such as floods and drought because of drastic climate change, a development which UNDP Resident Coordinator in Malawi, Michael Keating says will have negative effects on social, economic and political lives.
Launching the UNDP Human Development Report 2007/2007 whose theme is ‘Fighting climate change: Human solidarity in a divided world,’ in Malawi capital, Keating said climate change would reverse Malawi’s fortune in the agriculture sector.
“Malawi risks floods, drought and other natural calamities,” he said urging both the government to bang heads in order to reverse the situation.
He said climate change was no longer an environmental issue, saying “it is a food security issue, an economic issue and a health issue which must be tackled on all fronts.”
“It is an environmental issue that has broad social economic and political consequences. Sub-Saharan Africa is very affected by climate change. Here in Malawi climate change has dire economic consequences for the agro-based economy as top soil, good for farming is usually removed during flooding, affecting negatively food production for both consumption and export,” Keating explained.
Keating also lashed out at polluters and those who emit carbon dioxide, saying there was need for tougher laws to curb the situation.
According to Keating, Malawi has already started bearing the brunt of climate change citing successive droughts and floods in recent years which demonstrated the added pressures that climate change could generate. In 2001/2002, the country suffered one of the worst famines in recent living memory as localized floods cut maize output by one-third. Over 1,000 people died during the disaster and up to 20,000 are estimated to have died as an indirect result of associated malnutrition and disease.
“The 2001/2002 drought undermined coping strategies. People were forced not just to cut back on meals, withdraw children from school, sell household goods and increase casual labour, but also to eat seeds that would have been planted and exchange productive assets for food,” observes the UNDP report for Malawi.
That was not the only climate change perpetuated disaster as Malawi was again in the grip of a crisis caused by drought in 2005 which saw over four million people out of a population of over 12 million experiencing food shortages.
But what is Malawi doing about it?
Malawi’s Irrigation Minister admits that the country has indeed been hit hard by climate change but disputes UNDP prediction that the country will continue suffering from the consequence.
“We as a nation admit that climate change has the potential to produce extreme setbacks for human development. But it is not true that we will continue to suffer from the consequences of climate change in the years to come. This is so because some of the risks can be mitigated through better information, flood management infrastructure and drought-response measures,” he said.
Mia explained that social resilience has to be developed through social provision, welfare transfers and safety nets that raise the productivity of the most vulnerable households, empowering them to manage risk more effectively.
“The irrigation schemes we have introduced and the free seeds and fertilisers that we are giving to poor peasant farmers are some of the effective measures that are already mitigating the consequences of climate change,” he said.
He said that this year already over two million households have purchased fertilizer at US$7 for 50 kg—less than one-third of the world price and this is a weapon that will ensure that Malawi sustains its food security attainment formula.
“If you tell me that climate change is a huge threat to Zimbabwe or Mozambique, I will understand but not to a well organised country like Malawi which has put in mechanisms to ward off the consequences of climate change,” Mia said.
The Malawian minister says while drought is being overcome by irrigation schemes, in dealing with the problem of floods, the country has relocated people from river banks and flood-prone areas to higher and safer areas.
“The people who have been relocated have received pieces of land and government is supporting the construction of shelter and giving them free seeds and fertilisers,” he said doubting if neighbouring countries have similar programmes.
According to Mia, Malawi has also set aside several millions dollars for disaster preparedness.
“Let the world know that Malawi is indeed poor but it is now getting out of poverty because of its own home-brewed programmes like fertiliser subsidy. Malawi has been hit hard by climate change, but strategies have been devised to minimise the harm,” he said adding that Malawi wants to remain a miracle in the region.
“I am happy that we have stolen the winning formula from Zimbabwe. We are politically stable, economically sound and agriculturally perfect,” Mia said. SMS Features- Malawi
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