Germany yesterday announced a seven million euro (about K7.7 billion) donation to the World Food Programme (WFP) to complement the Malawi Government’s Post-Cyclone Freddy response.

Announcing the package yesterday at the German Embassy in Lilongwe, the embassy’s charge d’ affaires Knut Gummert said the donation will support 75 000 farmers in the most affected areas of Balaka, Chikwawa, Nsanje and Phalombe.

The donation has two main priority areas, which are to improve the living standards of local farmers who were severely affected by the devastation caused by Cyclone Freddy, and to improve people’s economic assets, and their resilience against weather-related shocks.

L to R: Kalemba, Gummert and Turnbull during the briefing yesterday

Gummert said the project, set to begin next month, will provide $30 each to about 75 000 smallholder farmers to allow them to buy food for their families, repair the damages caused by natural disasters and protect themselves from future shocks.

He said: “We [also] aim to build local assets such as flood mitigation structures and watershed management. This will increase resilience and, thus, reduce the impact of future shocks such as floods and dry spells.”

In his remarks, WFP country director Paul Turnbull, whose organisation will manage the funds, said the early recovery activities will focus on restoring and rehabilitating damaged structures and infrastructure, including clearing debris and developing flood protection measures.

He said the donation will help increase the scope of the UN agency’s initiatives to help communities create assets, especially on winter cropping, rehabilitating irrigation schemes, adding that similar initiatives had improved local farmers’ livelihoods and resilience.

Turnbull said: “We have evidence that these participants were less reliant on humanitarian assistance. When we started in 2017, 20 percent of these farmers were also receiving lean season support. As of last year, it was only three percent.

“The message is simple. Community-driven climate actions like the ones implemented by WFP and other partners in assorted districts, if scaled up country-wide, can reduce the impact of climate shocks and save lives and livelihoods.”

Department of Disaster Management Affairs (Dodma) commissioner Charles Kalemba commended WFP for prioritising risk reduction in its post-cyclone recovery initiatives.

“The best way forward is to have a programme that streamlines disaster risk reduction into government’s development programmes. We can focus on development, but one disaster can destroy whatever the country is putting up as a development project,” he said.

More than 1 000 people died and 600 000 others were displaced after Cyclone Freddy hit earlier this year.

The cyclone also destroyed farmlands, a development that placed the affected farmers on the brink of food insecurity.

Earlier this month, the government said in its 2023 Tropical Cyclone Freddy Post-Disaster Needs Assessment report that the country lost at least $506.7 million (over K500 billion).

The report also noted that the recovery efforts would require about $680.4 million (over K700 billion).

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