Critical Window Closing for up to 12 Million Hungry People in Southern Africa

A top United Nations World Food Programme official warned today
that a critical window was closing fast for 12 million people across
southern Africa to receive urgent help from the international community --
including five million people in Malawi facing the toughest 'hunger season'
in more than a decade.


WFP Deputy Executive Director Sheila Sisulu, a prominent South African,
said in the Malawian capital of Lilongwe that WFP was racing against time
to ensure sufficient food aid is delivered to the six worst-affected
southern African countries, including Malawi, to prevent mass suffering
before next April.


"It is deplorable that enough donations only come in when images of
emaciated African children starving in large numbers start appearing on
television screens around the world," said Sisulu. "Hunger doesn't have to
be inevitable in Africa but once food needs start to peak, it will be too
late for many of the weakest, especially children, and the cost of saving
lives will escalate significantly."


Sisulu arrived in Lilongwe on Tuesday for a four-day visit for talks with
the government and to check on WFP's operations in Malawi, just as the
organisation is facing a massive shortfall in contributions to run critical
feeding programmes.


"Malawi is not a repeat of Niger, yet. There is still a chance to help the
most vulnerable," Sisulu said. "If we all act now, there is no reason why
the situation should deteriorate further. But the world should be under no
illusion, the clock is ticking and the outlook is bleak. We need money
pledged now to feed the hungriest in a few months' time."


For Malawi, WFP still needs US$ 76 million to feed up to 2.9 million people
before the next harvest in April/May 2006. Regionally, WFP requires US$ 185
million to feed up to 9.2 million hungry people in Lesotho, Swaziland,
Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe.


Over the past six months, WFP and other aid agencies have warned of an
imminent food crisis in Malawi and the rest of southern Africa. So far, the
biggest single donor to WFP in Malawi is the Government, which received
significant support from Britain and the European Commission. However, no
new contributions have been received since 22 September.


It can take up to six months for donor pledges to WFP to appear as food aid
on the ground in southern Africa. The annual hunger season in Malawi, for
instance, usually starts in December and peaks in January/February before
the new maize harvest in March/April, but this year it has started several
months earlier and rising maize prices are already pushing vulnerable
populations to the brink. Supplies of cooking oil and pulses are
particularly needed.


WFP also needs to preposition three months of food supplies as some
southern areas in Malawi are often completely cut off for weeks at a time
once the rainy season starts in November. This makes the need for cash
contributions to buy food locally even more critical.















Sisulu urged all donors "to open their hearts at this most critical time"
as well as honour pledges made in the last few months. "The time to step up
the humanitarian response is now, but this can't be achieved without
international support," Sisulu said.


Spiralling maize prices in Malawi months before the hunger season point to
food shortages in the first quarter of 2006 being worse than 2002, when
drought put millions of people at risk of dying. WFP fed 2.9 million people
across Malawi in 2002. This year, WFP is striving to feed a similar number
of people, but in just seven districts in the worst-affected south.


In addition, the United Kingdom's Department for International Development
and the Government of Malawi are distributing food rations through vouchers
in the South, Central and Northern Regions. The voucher scheme should
eventually reach up to 2.2 million people in 16 districts. The number
targeted by the scheme in October is almost 460,000 people


WFP is currently feeding more than 1.2 million people in the south as well
as providing food to malnourished children and their mothers at
government-run Nutrition Rehabilitation Units across the country. It also
supports people with HIV/AIDS and development projects such as irrigation
schemes.


Hundreds of hungry people not registered for food assistance through
Village Relief Committees are turning up at WFP food distribution points.
Many say they are eating one meal or less per day and some are resorting to
eating wild foods that have little nutritional value, and in some cases are
very toxic and can cause death if not properly prepared.


The number of malnourished children under the age of five arriving in
Nutrition Rehabilitation Units (NRUs) across Malawi is increasing.. In
August, the NRU admission rate rose by 29 percent across the country as
compared to the same period in 2004.


The food shortage in Malawi is caused by a combination of problems that
include: the poorest maize harvest since 1994; erratic weather; shortages
of seeds and fertilisers at the critical planting time; high prices for
available food; chronic poverty (at least 60 percent of Malawians live
below the poverty line); the impact of HIV/AIDS on agriculture; over
reliance on rain-fed crops, particularly maize; and the fact that only two
percent of arable land is irrigated and most of this is linked to
commercial farms for sugar cane, tobacco, and tea.


HIV/AIDS is a major factor in limiting people's ability to grow food. Many
families are forced to spend meagre resources on medicine or funerals for
those affected by the virus, leaving nothing to buy seeds and fertiliser at
the most critical planting time. Malawi has an average adult HIV prevalence
rate of 14.4%. Pockets in the country are considerably higher.


Malawi, like the rest of southern Africa, is beset by a rising number of
orphans due to HIV/AIDS, placing a heavy burden on families struggling to
cope with food shortages. Even after good harvests, many of the poorest
families have difficulties feeding themselves.


Contributions to WFP's operations in southern Africa this year include:
US$95 million from the United States; US$37 million from the European
Commission; US$13 million from Malawi, US$13 million from the Netherlands;
US$11.8 million from Japan; US$5.3 million from Australia; US$3.7 million
from Canada; US$2.5 million from Germany, US$2.2 million from the United
Kingdom; and US$2.1 million from France.


WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency: each year, we give food to
an average of 90 million poor people to meet their nutritional needs,
including 56 million hungry children, in at least 80 of the world's poorest
countries. WFP -- We Feed People.


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