Tag Archives: El Niño

Malawi

World Bank responds to Chakwera’s state of disaster declaration with US$56.7m aid

Lloyd M’bwana

LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-The World Bank has released US$56.7 million (about MK99.3 billion) to the government to support Malawians affected by the food shortage that has hit the country.

This support comes barely after President Lazarus Chakwera announced a State of Disaster on March 23, 2024.

The World Bank said the funds will be released through the Catastrophe Deferred Drawdown Option (CAT-DDO) to provide the country with “immediate liquidity” as local authorities strive to deal with the fallout caused by El Nino conditions in the country.

The Catastrophe Deferred Drawdown Option (Cat DDO) is a form of contingent financing offered by International Bank for Reconstruction and Development to help countries take a proactive stand towards reducing exposure to catastrophic risk and access funds immediately after a natural disaster

Hugh Riddell, the World Bank Country Director for Malawi commended Malawi leadership for “having the foresight to lock in a CAT-DDO instrument when securing IDA [International Development Agency] budget support in late 2023.”.

“This innovation can help the Government of Malawi’s efforts to mitigate the impact on the most vulnerable.” He eraborated.

Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Simplex Chithyola-Banda lauded the World Bank for providing the Malawi government with additional budget support to respond to the food crisis caused by El Nino.

He added that under the dynamic leadership Chakwera, Malawi will never be the same again.

Human Rights

WFP urges global support as Malawi faces looming food crisis triggered by El Niño

Ufulu

LILONGWE – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is appealing for urgent resources to deliver life-saving food assistance to two million people reeling from the devastating impacts of drought, exacerbated by the effects of El Niño. This comes just days after Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera declared a state of disaster.

The El Niño impact is exacerbating the devastating effects of the climate crisis in Malawi. The country is still suffering from the impacts of tropical storms and cyclones in 2022 and 2023 and the compounded effect is to push up to 40 percent of Malawi’s population into hunger, threatening both lives and livelihoods. Prolonged dry spells have damaged crops in Southern and Central regions, while flooding has washed away crops in Northern and Central areas.

UN steps up support to Malawi following deadly cyclone

As national maize stocks run low, the country has been forced to import staple commodities, driving food prices to alarming levels. Maize prices nearly doubled in just one year and tripled against the five-year average. With over 80 percent of the population relying on agriculture to cover basic needs, the steep decline in staple crops such as maize, rice, soya beans, cowpeas and groundnuts has been devastating for millions of people.

“The impact is huge, and so are the needs,” said Paul Turnbull, WFP Country Director and Representative in Malawi. “We can avert a hunger catastrophe for the hardest hit families, but time is not on our side. I’m calling on the international community to step up now and help us save lives.”

On 23 March, Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera declared a State of Disaster, in 23 out of Malawi’s 28 districts affected by El Niño conditions. The Government’s preliminary assessment is that close to two million farming households and 749,000 hectares, representing 44 percent of the national crop area have been affected. As a result, the onset of the 2024/2025 lean season is anticipated to be earlier and more severe than usual. WFP will cover part of the food assistance requirements and needs US$ 70 million to provide emergency food assistance to two million people for three months, delivering a combination of in-kind and cash to affected households. Given the long lead times to procure food to address dire humanitarian needs, WFP aims to pre-position supplies by October to mitigate the impact of the coming lean season.

Collaborating with the Malawi Government, particularly the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DODMA), WFP will continue to ensure effective logistics support for the transportation of maize. WFP can also provide procurement and transport services to import cereals.

Notes: The El Niño impact is exacerbating the devastating effects of the climate crisis in Malawi. The country is still suffering from the impacts of tropical storms and cyclones in 2022 and 2023 and the compounded effect is to push up to 40 percent of Malawi’s population into hunger, threatening both lives and livelihoods.

Agriculture, Malawi, Regional

Zambia declares national disaster over drought

Burnett Munthali

LUSAKA-(MaraviPost)-The drought crisis brought on by El Nino and climate change will affect more than a million households, President Hakainde Hichilema says.

Zambia’s President Hichilema says almost half of the nation’s planted area has been ‘destroyed’.

Zambia has declared the drought the country is currently going through a national disaster, with President Hakainde Hichilema saying the lack of rain has devastated the agricultural sector, affecting more than one million families.

The southern African country has gone without rain for five weeks at a time when farmers need it the most, Hichilema said in a televised national address from the capital, Lusaka, on Thursday.

This compounded the effects of another dry spell and flooding that hit the nation last year, he added.

“The destruction caused by the prolonged drought spell is immense,” he said. The dry spell has already affected 84 of the country’s 116 districts.

Exacerbated by climate change and the El Nino weather phenomenon, the crisis threatens national food security, as well as water and energy supply, Hichilema said. Zambia is highly reliant on hydroelectric power.

“Given these challenges … we at this moment declare a prolonged drought a national disaster,” the president said.

The measure allows for more resources to address the crisis, with the drought expected to last well into March.

Due to the influence of El Nino on the 2023-2024 rainy season, Zambia has lost one million hectares (2.5 million acres) from 2.2 million planted crops.

Almost half of the nation’s “planted area” has been “destroyed”, Hichilema said.

He said humanitarian aid would be made available to ensure people do not go hungry, and he urged cooperating partners to provide relief beyond grain.

The president said Zambia had also drawn up plans to import and ration electricity to keep the economy and industries running, especially the heavily power-dependent mines.

Zambia is Africa’s second-largest copper producer.

Hichilema said the energy sector this year was expected to have a deficit close to 450 or above 500 megawatts.

The 2024 national budget will be re-aligned so that more resources can be channelled towards addressing the impact of the drought, he added.

“The current projections are that over a million farming households will be affected,” he said.

Zambia defaulted three years ago and is trying to rework its debt under the G20 Common Framework, a program designed to ensure swift and smooth debt overhauls for low-income nations.

Hichilema said Zambia’s situation was dire and called on its official and private creditors to quickly conclude its debt restructuring process.

“If this process does not close, it’s not just an indictment on Zambia but the global system,” he said.

The naturally occurring El Nino climate pattern, which emerged in mid-2023, usually increases global temperatures for one year afterwards.

It is currently fuelling fires and record heat across the world.

Business, Malawi

Chakwera’s doomed Canaan: Inflation hits 35% in January

Maravi Post Reporter

LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-Despite try and error President Lazarus Chakwera’s Tonse Alliance government has pursued to fix the ailing economy since 2020, but nothing is working and hitting the wall.

This is testified in the latest Malawi’s headline inflation quickened by 0.5 percentage points to hit 35 percent in January 2024 as food prices continued to bite.

The last time inflation hovered around 35 percent was in March 2013 when it hit 35.8 percent before it started decelerating.

In an inflation bulletin on Friday, February 16, 2024, the National Statistical Office (NSO) said food inflation rose from 43.5 percent in December 2023 to 44.9 percent in January while non-food inflation recorded a marginal decline from 22.8 percent in December 2023 to 22 percent in January.

In its First Monetary Policy Report released on Friday, the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) says inflationary pressures are expected to intensify, due to the lagged effects of exchange rate re-alignment, higher maize prices owing to the anticipated lower maize production as well as worsening inflation expectations.

“The projected inflation path over the forecast horizon shows a consistently less optimistic inflation outlook compared to the trajectory envisioned during the fourth MPC meeting of 2023. This follows an elevated path for both food and non-food price pressures.

“Exchange rate developments during the fourth quarter of 2023 significantly elevated the cost of imported items (raw materials and finished products), resulting in upward pressures on non-food inflation. In addition, sustained food deficit across the country continues to pile pressure on food inflation, as the lean season intensifies,” reads the report in part.

According to RBM, the food deficit followed lower harvests during the 2022/23 harvesting season following poor weather outturn, namely Cyclone Freddy and drought spells in some parts of the country.

“Furthermore, the late onset of rains during the 2023/24 farming season, coupled with the announcement of a possible El Nino weather pattern, has fuelled food price speculations during the current period.

“The above developments have shifted upwards the trajectory for the inflation outlook for 2024. Inflationary pressures are expected to intensify, due to the lagged effects of exchange rate re-alignment, higher maize prices owing to the anticipated lower maize production as well as worsening inflation expectations,” RBM says as quoted in the Daily Times.

In its 2023 Annual Economic Report, investment management firm, Nico Asset Managers says upside risks to inflation will continue throughout 2024, largely arising from the depreciating currency, a rise in private sector wages, the impact of El Niño weather patterns on food prices, increases in utility tariffs and fiscal slippages.

It notes that the Monetary Policy Committee will continue to monitor inflation, and where necessary will increase the policy rate to contain inflation.

“Rising prices reduce the purchasing power of households and lower the consumption of important items, especially food.

“Poor households will suffer disproportionately from food inflation, given the large share of food in their consumption basket,” Nico Asset Managers says.

However, the Central Bank is confident that inflation will begin to decline in the second half of the year.

RBM’s Director of Economic Policy and Research Kisu Simwaka recently said the Central bank will maintain a tight monetary policy stance to achieve a medium-term target of 5 percent.

“It has been difficult since 2020 understandably because of the disasters that we have experienced in between. In 2012 we devalued the Kwacha by about 50 percent and inflation moved from single digit to 37.9 percent in February 2013 then started coming down again to single digit between 2017 and 2018 what happened during that period?

“We kept the policy rate high up to 27 percent. That helped inflation to come down to single digits, it also helped the Kwacha to stabilize without controlling it, by mid-2016. That helped reserves to start picking up and the economy to grow,” Simwaka said.

Economist Marvin Banda therefore said the RBM failed to acknowledge the damaging effects of Broad Money on inflation which was at some point 38 percent.

He wondered how they could claim to be taming inflation when M2 is that high which translates to policy rate hikes hurting the real economy by creating credit shortages felt by citizens aiming to do business.

“The target of inflation of 5 percent is blindly ambitious because as a nation we have never hit this figure. The closest we have come is 7.1 percent during the Covid pandemic which saw an expected slowdown in price as a result of the lockdown initiatives.

Targeting a five percent inflation rate when the world is expecting more climate shocks, as well as geopolitical tensions, seems to be theory-based and impractical, yet we hope the RBM does reach the target,” Banda said.

Chakwera Tonse’s government has been characterized by high-cost living, inflation, and policy rates coupled with forex, fuel, and essential drug shortages for four years in power.

Without shame and remorse, Chakwera keeps on attributing the economic mess to the Russia-Ukraine war, Cyclone Freedy, COVID-19, the Cholera outbreak, and now El Nino.

Despite the economic meltdown, Chakwera keeps on making petty local and international trips while depleting hard-earned taxes and he has made over 140 foreign trips in three years.

Source: Daily Times

Environment, Malawi, Opinion

Environmental Close-Up on Sunday: How should Malawian farmers prepare for impending El Niño

Lloyd M’bwana

After six years of a break due to other pressing matters, “Environmental Close Up’ on Sunday” on The Maravi Post is back every Sunday for our readers across the globe including our home base, in Malawi.

The column tackles environmental severe issues including; weather patterns warnings, mining, land, water, sanitation, wildlife, climate change, disaster risk management, policies, and legal frameworks.

On weather pattern warnings, the general public is encouraged to take them seriously while taking caution against any adverse effects of climatic conditions on agriculture and settlements.

The Climatic conditions including cyclones, El Niño, La Niña, and others.

The page expects readers to contribute to any serious matter that needs the authority’s attention towards environmental management.

Today, we are focusing on the impending El Nino as predicted by the Global Information and Early Warning System under the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

Department of Meteorological Services and Climate Change also confirmed El Niño dry-spell fears for the 2023/24 season

For starters, a newly published weather report early this year showed that Malawi is among 53 countries expected to experience El- Niño-induced dry weather this crop-growing season.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe will be the most affected as the conditions will impact cereal production.

The report published titled ‘El Niño to return in 2023 following a three-year La Niña phase’ was prepared by the Global Information and Early Warning System under the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

Reads the report in part: “In addition, several countries in these regions are currently suffering from economic instability, due to low economic growth, unsustainable debt levels, and foreign exchange shortages, which have contributed to high inflation rates.

“In the event of a production shock, this economic instability could pose challenges for countries to increase needed imports.”

Fortunately for Malawi, the report said FAO has developed anticipatory action (AA) standard procedures to be followed in most countries at risk of being affected by El Niño in 2023/24, where food security is a major concern.

It further said FAO was also ready to implement agricultural and livelihood-based interventions, in coordination with governments and humanitarian partners, should the El Niño forecast materialize.

As a remedy, it suggests the distribution of farming tools and seeds of drought-tolerant crop varieties in advance and the provision of seed and animal health support.

“Rehabilitation of irrigation intakes, canals, and other water points, promotion of capacity development and support to farmers on water-harvesting techniques. Developing capacity of farmers and providing support on post-harvest management and processing to minimize losses,” the report said.

What is El Niño?

The term El Niño (Spanish for ‘the Christ Child’) refers to a warming of the ocean surface, or above-average sea surface temperatures, in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.

El Niño is a natural weather phenomenon that occurs when the water from the central and eastern equatorial parts of the Pacific rises to above-than-average sea surface temperatures, altering the weather and temperatures in different regions.

Depending on the intensity and duration of this phenomenon, and your location, these changes in weather patterns can have beneficial and adverse effects, especially for local agricultural sectors.

Positive Effects of El Niño

In some drought-prone areas, the increased rainfall brought by El Niño can have positive effects because it can help communities replenish their water supplies and allow farmers to cultivate and grow their crops. El Niño can also extend the growing season in some areas due to milder temperatures and longer summers. Farmers can then take advantage of this to boost their yields and incomes.

Adverse Effects of El Niño

While it can have some positive effects in certain regions, it can also give rise to extreme weather conditions characterized by reduced or excessive rainfall.

Severe drought and associated food insecurity, flooding, rains, and temperature rises due to El Niño are causing a wide range of health problems, including disease outbreaks, malnutrition, heat stress, and respiratory diseases.

The amount of rainfall plays a crucial role in agriculture and can impact crop growth and overall productivity. Reduced rainfall can result in drought conditions and lead to water scarcity and lower crop yields.

On the other hand, excessive rain can saturate planting areas and cause flooding, damaging crops and disrupting farming operations. In addition, El Niño can also create favorable conditions for pests and diseases to thrive due to warmer temperatures and higher humidity levels.

What happens during El Niño?

El Niño causes the Pacific jet stream to move south and spread further east.

During winter, this leads to wetter conditions than usual in the Southern U.S. and warmer and drier conditions in the North.

El Niño also has a strong effect on marine life off the Pacific coast.

In Malawi, there is an expectation of extreme hot weather conditions while other areas will have cold weather in summer.

Malawi might also experience torrential rainfall while other areas dry spells.

How should farmers prepare against El Niño?

Post-harvest management, Hermetic Technology, Sustainable Agriculture, Climate-smart agriculture
Amidst the ongoing challenges posed by climate change and global warming, and shortly after the end of the three-year La Niña period, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) officially declared the onset of El Niño in a June report.

Since the agricultural industry relies heavily on stable weather conditions, any changes in these patterns can have a significant impact. These changes can disrupt operations, bring additional expenses, and affect the quality and volume of crop yields.

Moreover, previous El Niño events have presented immense challenges and disruptions that resulted in reduced yields, higher prices, and substantial financial losses.

Considering the potential consequences of El Niño on agriculture, farmers and agribusinesses must prepare and take proactive measures to mitigate its impacts and achieve climate resilience. Here are some steps you can take:

  1. Assess your vulnerabilities. Examine your business or farm operations and determine the areas that may be most affected. Can you protect your crops in case of sudden rains? Do you have a secure storage facility in case of flooding? By understanding your vulnerabilities, you can prioritize where to focus your efforts and where to invest your resources effectively. It’s always good to practice risks and develop contingency plans to help ensure the resilience and sustainability of your operations.
  2. Stay informed and prepared. Keep an eye on the latest weather forecasts and El Niño predictions in your region so you can anticipate potential changes in weather conditions like rainfall patterns and weather extremes. This will help you plan and adjust your strategies to help you better prepare for whatever comes your way.
  3. Improve water management. During El Niño, water scarcity can become a real issue. Because of this, it’s crucial to optimize your resource use and reduce water waste to mitigate the adverse effects that drought and reduced rain can bring. One way to achieve this is by ensuring a stable water supply to sustain and continue crop production. It’s also important to be mindful of your water consumption and implement efficient water usage practices. These can include techniques such as rainwater collection, drip irrigation, and mulching. By doing so, you can contribute to conserving water and minimizing the impact of water scarcity.
  4. Diversify your crops. Select and improve crop varieties that are suitable for specific weather conditions. Opt for crops with higher tolerance to water scarcity or excess water but can still produce yields. With this, you can reduce the risk of crop failure, increase the chances of a successful harvest, open new market opportunities, and reduce dependence on a single crop.
  5. Continuously monitor and adapt. Enhance climate resilience and productivity of your operations by adapting to new technologies and implementing climate-smart procedures. Climate-smart solutions are simple yet reliable and are proven to reduce post-harvest losses and protect quality.

GrainPro’s climate-smart solutions in action

Throughout the post-harvest process — drying, transport, and storage steps, GrainPro solutions have consistently aided farmers and traders in mitigating losses while effectively preserving commodity quality and quantity.

In areas prone to typhoons and flooding like the Philippines, the use of GrainPro® Bubble Dryer™ has proven to be a valuable solution for farmers.

This simple and easy-to-use drying solution made it convenient for farmers to dry their commodities even during the wet season.

Moreover, using these Bubble Dryers has allowed them to maintain the quality of their harvested rice, thereby increasing their chances of selling it at a more favorable price.

While preparing for El Niño might require additional steps, it is essential in safeguarding crops and reducing post-harvest losses.

By implementing climate-smart solutions, you can enhance the resilience of your operations and withstand unpredictable weather conditions without compromising the quality of your hard-earned crops.

In summary, Malawian farmers must plant early maturing crop varieties, resistant to pests and diseases, observe rain patterns.

Send your feedback to email: lloydmbwana.4@gmail.com or WhatsApp number: +265 884235871