US is Malawi’s ‘friend indeed’, announces additional $47.46mil in food assistance
U.S. Ambassador to Malawi Virginia Palmer today announced a new United States donation of US$47.46million (MK35.6 billion) to Malawi to assist people in need of humanitarian food assistance.
This is in response to the MalawiVulnerability Assessment Committee’s (MVAC) report that 6.5 million Malawians need humanitarianfood assistance to alleviate suffering through March 2017.
One month ago during her visit to Malawi the Second Lady of the United States, Dr. Jill Biden, announced the donation of US$20 million (MK15 billion). Since October 2015, the U.S. Government has provided assistance through two food crises in Malawi totaling US$122.1 million (MK88 billion).
The UN World Food Program (WFP) and other international organizations will receive and distribute the United States’ food donation,which includes 14,200 metric tons of maize, 10,090 metric tons of beans,and 6,120 metric tons of vitamin A & D-fortified vegetable oil, as well asUS$7 million to support the cost of distributing part of the maize donated by the Government of Malawi from its Strategic Grain Reserves.
The remainder of the donation (US$26.06 million) will support agriculture recovery and nutrition activities in Malawi.
“We appreciate the meeting HE President Mutharika convened on August 12. We were pleased with the opportunity to discuss how Malawi’s current agricultural and export policies make Malawi over reliant on subsistence farmers who are most vulnerable to climate change for food production,” Ambassador Palmer said.
The Ambassador added that the U.S. will continue to work with the Government of Malawi to break the cycle of food insecurity by providing assistance to help Malawi to honor its New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition commitments. This includes areview of the Control of Goods Act, which has inhibited investment in food production, and the drafting of a Seed Bill that is consistent with Malawi’s SADC seed harmonization obligations to enhance farmer access to quality seeds from across the region.
“Together we recognize that policy and market predictability are critical if Malawi’s farmers are to become entrepreneurs, if agribusinesses are to invest, and if Malawi is to transform its agriculture sector from a source of vulnerabilityinto an engine for growth,” Ambassador Palmer said.
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The UN World Food Program (WFP) and other international organizations will receive and distribute the United States’ food donation,which includes 14,200 metric tons of maize, 10,090 metric tons of beans,and 6,120 metric tons of vitamin A & D-fortified vegetable oil.
THIS IS NOT POLITICAL, THAT IS WHY GOVERNMENT IS NOT DISTRIBUTING BUT WFP AND INGOs. Mawa asapangire campaign zinthu za UN
Thanks US for this donations. Business as usual to continue. All this will end up in brick and morter for the rich and powerful. More cash gate houses to be built. British High Commissioner is very right. Those on the ground knows how bad things are in this Country. Trust me 101% of them are constructing their own mansions while the country is languishing. God knows. Malawians can be fooled but God cannot.
Wiston, are you not going to develop heart attack because it is now proved that you are the most concerned person with the 2014 victory of the DPP. My advice to you is that you should take your heart otherwise you will die miserably. Nothing will help you defeat the DPP in 2019. Your writings are exposing you and I can see you bursting because of hatred towards this govt. Just have your time talking to Joyce Banda and Kamlepo to embark in a heavy campaign so that you win the 2019 elections. Your writings are too short to convince… Read more »
And someone is feeling pains because of these donations. Those who always look for negatives. Wait and see more of these as we go torwards the elections. The win is already there it is just time which is commanding.
At times you must be ashamed of yourself.Every time one gives you food is a friend indeed,for how long will you remain beggars of food and yet you claim to be independent for 52 years? Are you not being ashamed? Swaziland and Lesotho are tiny nations with very limited resources,but they can afford to feed their citizens.One wonders,where does your President get funds to hire private jets for his own personal interests costing tax-payers millions of dollars while his citizens are starving,our hospitals dangerously lack medicines and government workers are not paid in time.Malawi remains COLD HEART OF AFRCA FOREVER.When… Read more »
O……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….O Very well said Msowoya. Just one thing though . . . the yardstick you have used for declaring Lesotho and Swaziland as tiny countries is wrong. For sake of comparison with Malawi, you should have looked at the countries by land size but by population density (people per square kilometre). And if you look around, Malawi has 177, while Lesotho and Swazi have 69 and 73; respectively, as per 2014 estimates by the World Bank. . . . Are we surprised therefore that Swazi has per capita income of $3034, Lesotho $1125 while Malawi is $226? . . .… Read more »