Lilongwe, May 12, 2015: Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development Dr. Allan Chiyembekeza, says his Ministry has lined up a number of measures to remedy the hunger fears in the country after the country experienced the worst floods in recent times.
Dr. Chiyembekeza made the statement in Lilongwe Monday during his presentation in Parliament on the Outlook of Crop Production in the country.
He told the house that his ministry has put in place several measures to remedy the decline in food production, especially the staple crop, maize.
Said Chiyembekeza, ”According to my Ministry’s assessment, there will be a decline of 27 percent in maize production compared to last year’s yield from 3,978,123 metric (2013-14) tons to about 2,876,660 metric in (2014-2015) growing season.
“This means there will be a deficit of about 123,000 metric tons to meet the demand for maize.” However, he said he was optimistic that the measures put in place would ease up the challenge.
Chiyembekeza told the house the government through his Ministry would buy an additional 60 thousand metric tons of maize to replenish the Strategic Grain Reserves (SGR) whose maize stock was at 44 thousand metric tons as of April.
He also told the house that Admarc would also be allocated about k4billion to purchase maize from the farmers at a price of k100 per kilogram with the aim of reselling to those in need.
However, he assured the house that the projected increase in other crops like sweet and Irish potatoes would also help in reducing the food challenges.
Meanwhile, the minister has announced that some households from areas worst hit by the floods would also be assisted through provision of maize seeds for irrigation farming.
“Mr. Speaker sir, I would also like to report to this house that 285 metric tons of maize seeds will be distributed to some households for irrigation farming in Chiradzulu and Mulanje among others.
“We have already distributed 320 treadle pumps to families in Mulanje and Chiradzulu for that purpose,” said Chiyembekeza.
The Agriculture minister also told the house that at least 3200 goats have been distributed in Mulanje and Nsanje to alleviate the loss of their livestock to the floods.
About 176 people died and hundreds of thousands were displaced by the floods early this year.
