Malawians won't go hungry - Bingu

24 February 2010, The Maravi Post
URL: http://www.maravipost.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2606:malawians-wont-go-hungry-bingu-&catid=47:development&Itemid=128

Blantyre:  Malawi president Bingu wa Mutharika said Sunday despite bleak forecasts by agriculture experts that there'll be a significant drop in crop production this year he was optimistic Malawians will not go hungry.

The current rainy season has been erratic in Malawi with most of the country's 28 districts experiencing not only a late on-set of rains but also extensive dry spells.  Experts in all Agriculture Development Divisions in the country have said following crop assessments Malawi will record a drop of an average of 30 per cent of crop production, especially that of maize, the main food.

Things are even more bleak in the flood-prone southern Lower Shire Valley where most districts received very little rain forcing most crops to wilt before growing a foot high.

In the wake of the bleak assessment, President Mutharika Sunday undertook an impromptu crop inspection tour of eight districts.  "I wanted to appreciate the crop situation because this year we have had a mixture of El Nino and La Nina which has affected rainfall patterns," he said.

Mutharika said in some areas he witnessed crop failure but was optimistic some areas, where the crop looks promising, will provide some cushion the situation.  "This country will not go hungry this year," he declared.

When he took over the reigns of power in 2004 Mutharika defied donor advice to impliment a very expensive farm-input subsidy programme where substitence farmers get seed and fertiliser at almost no cost. This has seen Malawi, that had hitherto been experiencing perenial food shortages, posting surpluses of up to 1 million metrict tonnes of maize for two seasons running.

But it was clear, despite the subsidy programme, that the 2009/2010 growing season would hit a snag with most districts experiencing lengthy dry spells apart from receiving rains late in the planting season