Tag Archives: Cyclone Idai

ATI’s FUM constructed, rehabilitated irrigation schemes excite Dedza farmers

2020-11-12 Lloyd M’bwana

DEDZA-(MaraviPost)-Just a year after new irrigation schemes were constructed and rehabilitated at Traditional Authority (T.A) Kachindamoto in the central district of Dedza, farmers have already realized bumper harvest for commercial and consumption, thanks to Agriculture Transformation Initiative (ATI)’s funds channeled through Farmers Union of Malawi (FUM).

The intervention came after the schemes were damaged by flash floods Cyclone Idai caused in 2019 that many farmers lost farm produces.

This necessitated the need for recovery efforts that support households to build their livelihood and food security through multiple means.

The construction of Dzalanyama (10 hectors) and rehabilitation of Mgundu irrigation schemes at Mtakataka Extension Planning Area (EPA) and Gololoti EPA respectively have witnessed over 300 farmers smiling with dry season cropping.

Visiting farmers on Tuesday, November 10, 2020 that coupled with schemes handover ceremony farmers who grew maize, vegetables including onion and tomatoes, proceeds from the production have helped them to be economically independent and food secure.

Some farmers have even built iron sheet houses, bough motor bike and saving funds for farm inputs ahead of rainy growing season.

Mgundu irrigation scheme chairperson Pierre Katola disclosed that has managed to buy motorbike and able save some funds for farm inputs ahead of rainy growing season.

Katola added that by the year 2022 will be able driving a car out of the irrigation farming.

“Just first dry growing season of 30 by 30 square meters piece, I have managed to realize funds to buy motor bike from tomatoes proceeds. Honestly, I dint expected this when we ventured into irrigation. We are much appreciation to ATI funds through FUM. FUM has helped us with quality seeds and extension services hence bumper harvest in all farmers, “excited Katola.

FUM President a Mr. Njolomole lauded farmers for adhering to extension services his organization provided for the successful first dry cropping season.

Njolomole assured farmers that FUM will do everything possible that initiative is fully supported for further livelihood improvement and food security.

ATI’s Malawi Country Director Dr. Candida Nakhumwa said rehabilitation of the two irrigation schemes align with his organization mission to prepare for a future of reduced tobacco demand.

Dr Nakhumwa says ATI is supporting the development of complementary structured value chains to make the agriculture sector globally competitive with supportive infrastructure and technologies.

“The two irrigation schemes are timely as will help farmers deal with water challenges for irrigation. Close to 500 farmers around these schemes will now be able to produce more than one crop per year, therefore improved their household food security and income,” says Nakhumwa.

With funding from Foundation for a Smoke-Free World about US$250,000 was earmarked for the project.

Agriculture, Malawi

Malawi in top 10 on food vulnerable countries-Christian Aid Report

2019-08-18 Maravi Post Reporter

By Patience Abeck

LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-A Climate and Food Vulnerability Index published this month by Christian Aid has placed Malawi in top 10 countries to be vulnerable to pangs of hunger this year.

The index, which attributes the country’s vulnerability status to the March 2019 flooding triggered by Cyclone Idai and pockets of dry spells in Karonga, puts Malawi on position seven out of 113 assessed countries.

At least 15 districts were affected by the cyclone rendering about 868,895 people destitute.

“The 2018/19 season exemplified this, with southern districts affected by erratic rains and dry spells delivering drought-stressed crops, ending with extreme, cyclone-related flooding sweeping away what little yield farmers were expecting to harvest,” reads part of the report.

The top 10 countries are Burundi, Congo, Madagascar, Yemen, Sierra Leone, Chad, Malawi, Haiti, Niger and Zambia.

But reacting to the report, Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development Minister Kondwani Nankhumwa told The Daily Times that according to current crop estimates, the country has enough maize.

Nankhumwa, however, said they are aware that maize prices are currently going up, a situation they have to control.

“We have enough maize, especially in the Central Region areas, that is what is on the ground. We also have a surplus.

However, the current situation in the country is that maize prices are going up due to speculation.

“So, as government, we are coming up with strategies to make maize available on the market at affordable prices. We will be releasing a statement very soon on the strategies,” he said.

Projections from the ministry indicate that Malawi has 355,000 metric tonnes (MT) of maize surplus.

Maize output rose to 3.35 million MT, representing a 24.36 percent increase when compared to the 2017/18 final-round estimate of 2.7 million MT.

Commenting on the maize fluctuations and how they can be stabilised, Economics Association of Malawi president Chikumbutso Kalilombe, said the situation is manageable once the State-owned statutory corporation, Agricultural Development Marketing Corporation, is strengthened.

Kalilombe said, going forward, the country needs to strike a balance between maize production and selling where it has emerged production costs are very high.

“For us, we think there is a consideration that people should do; thus, prices should reflect the production costs. Maize is a vital commodity for the country. Maybe because maize production is continuously subsistence, we need to be thinking of going commercial because the cost of production is way high than selling. We need to strike a balance between the two,” he said.

The report has since suggested that vulnerable countries need to be supported towards being more food secure.

“The first step may be humanitarian relief but to really tackle food security, it’s vital that richer countries provide financial support and technology as well as expertise from agro-ecological experts to enhance the resilience and productivity of small-scale producers,” read part of the recommendations.

Organisations such as Food and Agriculture Organisation also projected that food security is expected to worsen in the Southern Region of Malawi which produces about one-third of the national maize output due to the floods.

Regional, Top News

Cyclone Idai: Scores more deaths reported in Mozambique

2019-03-24 Maravi Post Reporter

Thousands remain trapped by the floodwaters-

By Grace Dzuwa

The official death toll from Cyclone Idai, which tore through southern Africa more than a week ago, rose sharply on Saturday as authorities reported scores more deaths.

According to BBC, the number of people declared dead in Mozambique rose from 242 to 417, Land and Environment Minister Celso Correia said.

The new figure puts the overall death toll at about 700 people across Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi.

The storm has killed at least 259 people in Zimbabwe, while in Malawi 56 people died when heavy rains hit ahead of the cyclone.

But the United Nations said officials will only be able to determine the final casualty figure once the flood waters have receded.

The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Saturday that the Buzi and Zambezi rivers were at risk of breaking their banks again”We’re going to have to wait until the flood waters recede until we know the full expanse of the toll on the people of Mozambique,” OCHA co-ordinator Sebastian Rhodes Stampa said.

Thousands remain trapped by the floodwaters, and many of the Mozambican government’s relief centres have only just started receiving food supplies.

Malawi, SADC

Mozambique’s president says cyclone death toll may be 1,000

2019-03-22 Lloyd M’bwana

JOHANNESBURG — Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi says that more than 1,000 may have by killed by Cyclone Idai, which many say is the worst in more than 20 years.

Speaking to state Radio Mozambique, Nyusi said Monday that although the official death count is currently 84, he believes the toll will be more than 1,000.

“It appears that we can register more than 1,000 deaths,” said the president, adding that more than 100,000 people are at risk.

“The waters of the Pungue and Buzi rivers overflowed, making whole villages disappear and isolating communities, and bodies are floating,” said Nyusi. “It is a real disaster of great proportions.”

According to Associated Press, Nyusi spoke after flying by helicopter over the central port city of Beira and the rural Manica and Sofala provinces in which he saw widespread flooding and devastation.

Other officials in emergency services cautioned that while they expect the death toll to rise significantly, they have no way of knowing if it will reach the president’s estimate of 1,000.

The Red Cross said that 90 percent of Beira, a city of 500,000, had been damaged or destroyed.

Beira has been severely battered by the cyclone which cut off electricity, forced the airport to shut down and cut off road access to the rest of the country. Cyclone Idai first hit Beira last week and then moved inland to Zimbabwe and Malawi.

Beira has been severely battered by the cyclone which cut off electricity, forced the airport to shut down and closed road access to the city, said the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies on Monday.

Cyclone Idai first hit Beira last week and then moved inland spreading heavy winds and rainfall to Zimbabwe and Malawi. More than 215 people have been killed by the storm according to official figures in the three countries, hundreds more are missing and more than 1.5 million people have been affected, according to the Red Cross and government officials.

The scale of the damage to Beira is “massive and horrifying,” said Jamie LeSueur, who led a Red Cross aerial assessment of the city. The team had to view the city by helicopter because roads were flooded, he said.

“The situation is terrible. The scale of devastation is enormous. It seems that 90 percent of the area is completely destroyed,” said LeSueur.

With Beira’s airport closed, the team drove from Mozambique’s capital Maputo before taking a helicopter for the last part of the journey because roads into Beira have been flooded.

While the physical impact of Idai is beginning to emerge, the human impact is unclear.

“Almost everything is destroyed. Communication lines have been completely cut and roads have been destroyed. Some affected communities are not accessible,” said LeSueur.

“Beira has been severely battered. But we are also hearing that the situation outside the city could be even worse. Yesterday (Sunday), a large dam burst and cut off the last road to the city.”

The storm hit Beira late Thursday and moved westward into Zimbabwe and Malawi, affecting thousands more, particularly in areas bordering Mozambique.

At least 126 people had died in Mozambique and Malawi, according to the Red Cross. In Zimbabwe, 89 people have died from the floods, the country’s information ministry said Monday.

Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi and Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa both returned from foreign trips to attend to the emergencies caused by the storm.

Zimbabwe’s president returned home from the United Arab Emirates “to make sure he is involved directly with the national response by way of relief to victims of Cyclone Idai,” the information ministry said. The Zimbabwean government declared a state of national disaster.

U.N. agencies and the Red Cross are helping with rescue efforts that include delivering food supplies and medicines by helicopter in the impoverished countries.

Environment, Opinion, Regional, Top News

Exclusive; How Cyclone Idai’s storm tore into southern Africa

2019-03-21 Maravi Post Author

Aid agencies are scrambling to reach survivors of Cyclone Idai, which swept through Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe last week, destroying towns and villages in its path.

By Lucy Rodgers, Gerry Fletcher and Mark Bryson-BBC

Hundreds of people have been killed and hundreds of thousands more have been affected by what the UN says could be “one of the worst weather-related disasters ever to hit the southern hemisphere”.

Here’s what we know so far about the impact of the cyclone.

Large areas are under water

The storm made landfall near the port city of Beira in Mozambique’s Sofala province on 14 March, packing winds of up to 177 km/h (106 mph) and bringing torrential rain.

Map showing areas affected by flooding caused by Cyclone Idai

Floods of up to six metres deep have caused “incredible devastation” over a huge area in Mozambique, the World Food Programme (WFP) has said, with homes, roads and bridges washed away.

The current flood zone is estimated to cover 3,000 sq km (1,200 sq miles).

Aid staff who flew over the area have spoken of “inland oceans extending for miles and miles”.

Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Madagascar all suffered high levels of rainfall.

The worst of the flooding has been in Mozambique, with rivers flowing downstream from neighbouring countries. The area close to the River Buzi west of Beira has been particularly hard-hit.

Satellite image of Cyclone Idai as it hit the coast of Mozambique

Aid groups are now struggling to reach survivors trapped in remote areas where villages were submerged.

Thousands were “stranded on rooftops, in trees and other elevated areas”, said Unicef spokesperson Christophe Boulierac.

It is feared the situation could get worse in both Mozambique and Zimbabwe, with heavy rain set to continue.

The storm hit one of the worst places

The storm first struck Beira – Mozambique’s fourth-largest city and a port that sits on the mouth of the River Pungwe.

Its geography, with parts of it lying below sea level, makes it vulnerable to extreme weather.

The city bore the brunt of the storm, which caused flooding, knocked down buildings and engulfed roads. A large dam also burst, cutting off the last road into the city. The hospital has also been damaged.

People wade through floodwater in Mozambique

Beira airport, which was partially damaged by the storm and temporarily shut, has reopened and is operating as the relief operations hub.

Air force personnel from Mozambique and South Africa have also been drafted in to fly rescue missions and distribute aid while roads are out of action.

Aid workers in the area say they have only two to three days of clean water left.

Cyclone Idai was powerful

Idai was one of the worst tropical cyclones ever to hit Africa and the southern hemisphere.

It formed off the eastern coast of Mozambique in early March and hit the country’s coast a first time before heading back out into the Mozambique Channel.

It intensified, weakened and intensified again before hitting the Mozambique coast for a second time on 14 March.

Winds reached up to 177 km/h (106 mph) and heavy rainfall caused disastrous flooding across a number of countries.

Communities have been destroyed

Vast swathes of Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe have been affected.

In Mozambique, the country hardest hit, an estimated 600,000 people have been affected, according to the UN.

Nhamudima, an area of makeshift homes in the city of Beira, was heavily affected by the cyclone

However, the WFP believes 1.7 million people in the country will eventually need help as a result of the disaster.

Poorer areas, made up of makeshift homes, in Beira and elsewhere have been particularly badly hit.

In Zimbabwe, 200,000 people have been affected, with most of the damage occurring near the Mozambique border.

The situation in the eastern district of Chimanimani “is very bad”, WFP spokesman Herve Verhoosel said.

“Some 90% of the district has been significantly damaged,” he added.

In Malawi, the UN says more than 80,000 people have been displaced.

The Maravi Post