Thyolo District Council has started distributing relief maize to 34 260 food-insecure households in the district. 

The exercise follows a 2022 Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee (Mvac) report that 3.8 million people will face food shortage in 27 districts except Likoma. The four cities of Blantyre, Lilongwe, Zomba and Mzuzu are also included during the 2022/23 lean season from November 2022 to March 2023.

Following the report, the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (Dodma) launched the 2022/23 Lean Season Food Insecurity Response Programme to distribute maize and disburse money to food-insecure families.  

Speaking on Saturday during the distribution at Goliati, Thyolo district commissioner Rosemary Nawasha advised beneficiaries not to sell the maize.

She said: “Don’t sell the maize because that will undermine the essence of distributing it to beneficiaries, which is to help hunger-stricken people get food during the lean season.

Nawasha (C) helps a beneficiary carry a bag of maize

“I am pleased that most households are represented by women who put the interest of their homes at heart. There are some men who take these donations and sell for beer when children at home have no food.”

Group village head Kamoto thanked government for giving her people relief maize, saying they were surviving on mangoes.

“People were going for days without food. If it wasn’t for the mangoes, you would have heard that they are just falling dead out of starvation,” she said.

Fales Boidi, a mother of four, said they were going without food some days as their harvest depleted a long time ago.

“Now I will stop doing piecework to get food and will dedicate the time to working in my maize garden,” she said.

In the district, 34 260 households will receive maize allocated for December and K25 000 each for January, February and March.

The post 34 260 households get relief maize in Thyolo first appeared on The Nation Online.

The post 34 260 households get relief maize in Thyolo appeared first on The Nation Online.