Following the emergency arising from the food situation in some parts of the country, World Vision International has since announced that it will with support from the World Food Programme (WFP) embark on a food distribution exercise in five districts in the country’s southern region.

Kupingani Kumwenda, World Vision International Programme Manager for Midzemba ADP who is coordinating the emergency food distribution excise in the southern Malawian districts of Neno and Mwanza said told AfricaNews, 8550 families in Neno will from September start benefiting from emergency food which will comprise of a 50kg bag of maize, 10kg of beans and 5kgs of soya beans to each beneficially family.

Kumwenda said following the current food situation in Neno, World Vision International will start the first phase of the excise in the month of September and it will distribute the food to needy families for two months.

She said her organisation has since stopped giving famers in Neno seed and started focusing on programmes that will equip the vulnerable families with the financial muscle to purchase food as the districts crop production has been declining in the past few years due to bad rains.

The Malawi vulnerability assessment committee food assessment of May that covered 18 districts of the country indicates that 15 districts most of them in the southern region are affected by severe food shortages following the bad growing season last year. The report indicates that over 1.6 million families are to be affected by food shortages in the 2012-2013 consumption years.

An Africanews investigation in Neno indicated that many families have already exhausted their food reserves, and several others are expected to go hungry by mid next September.

According to Traditional Authority, Symon, most of the families that have been hit are now depending on daily food purchases from local maize vendors.

Symon is however worried that most of these poor families will not be able to purchase the daily food rations by mid September when menial jobs are scarce.

Symon’s fears are echoing those of many villagers that AfricaNews interviewed at Lisungwi Trading Centre.

Zeferia Nsipu one of the locals found buying maize grain at the Market said in an interview she has been surviving on daily purchases of two kilogram grain to feed her family.

Nsipu was however worried that she would not be able to buy the grain in the coming month as casual jobs are rarely found in September when many people would have started focusing on their gardens in preparation for the next growing season.

However Nsipu was relieved to hear news that World Vision International will embark on a food distribution excise to poor families that have been affected by food shortages in Neno district.