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| El Niño worsens food shortages in Malawi and Zimbabwe – podcast transcript | El Niño worsens food shortages in Malawi and Zimbabwe – podcast transcript |
| (17 days later) | |
| LL Lucy Lamble | LL Lucy Lamble |
| JL Juliana Lunguzi | JL Juliana Lunguzi |
| BM Beatrice Mwangi | BM Beatrice Mwangi |
| AN Annie Namakhwa | AN Annie Namakhwa |
| IM Immaculate Bottoman | IM Immaculate Bottoman |
| NC Noel Chalamanda | NC Noel Chalamanda |
| EC Edward Chimaimba | EC Edward Chimaimba |
| TM Thabani Maphosa | TM Thabani Maphosa |
| FK Fordson Kafweku | FK Fordson Kafweku |
| RN Rose Norman | RN Rose Norman |
| MG Mary Gangisa | MG Mary Gangisa |
| VK Virginia Kachigunda | VK Virginia Kachigunda |
| BH Bernard Hadzirabwi | BH Bernard Hadzirabwi |
| LL Southern Malawi and Zimbabwe are both experiencing what some are calling the worst drought in 35 years. | LL Southern Malawi and Zimbabwe are both experiencing what some are calling the worst drought in 35 years. |
| JL I’ve received two messages in two families, in two villages, where kids were left at home, where the mother went to look for food, they ended up eating some plants and they died. They died because they ate something, they ate that something because there was no food. I’m just reporting as it is, to the extent of the hunger. It’s a disaster. | JL I’ve received two messages in two families, in two villages, where kids were left at home, where the mother went to look for food, they ended up eating some plants and they died. They died because they ate something, they ate that something because there was no food. I’m just reporting as it is, to the extent of the hunger. It’s a disaster. |
| LL That’s the voice of Juliana Lunguzi from the MCP, the Malawi Congress opposition party and member of parliament for Dedza East speaking about the food shortages in the country. Usually, South Africa produces enough grain to export so that when other countries are lacking, they can depend on surpluses from there. This year however even South Africa has had to import maize, and the effect on surrounding countries has been palpable. | LL That’s the voice of Juliana Lunguzi from the MCP, the Malawi Congress opposition party and member of parliament for Dedza East speaking about the food shortages in the country. Usually, South Africa produces enough grain to export so that when other countries are lacking, they can depend on surpluses from there. This year however even South Africa has had to import maize, and the effect on surrounding countries has been palpable. |
| BM My name is Beatrice Mwangi. I am the regional resilience and livelihoods director for the South African region. For some countries this is successive seasons of crop failure which means that communities have much less and more vulnerable communities being made even more vulnerable, so the need is dire. | |
| Related: Drought and rising temperatures 'leaves 36m people across Africa facing hunger' | Related: Drought and rising temperatures 'leaves 36m people across Africa facing hunger' |
| LL Given that local climate impacts of El Niño, the seasonal weather phenomenon, are relatively predictable, why are we here again with communities who are really struggling due to failed harvests? My name is Lucy Lamble and for this month’s podcast I start my journey near the river Shire in southern Malawi. | LL Given that local climate impacts of El Niño, the seasonal weather phenomenon, are relatively predictable, why are we here again with communities who are really struggling due to failed harvests? My name is Lucy Lamble and for this month’s podcast I start my journey near the river Shire in southern Malawi. |
| Here I am now in Neno district talking to 36-year-old Annie Namakhwa. She’s a mother of four and her home is in an area which was particularly badly flooded last year. Now, due to the late rains, the community is surrounded by wilting crops all around her homestead. | Here I am now in Neno district talking to 36-year-old Annie Namakhwa. She’s a mother of four and her home is in an area which was particularly badly flooded last year. Now, due to the late rains, the community is surrounded by wilting crops all around her homestead. |
| AN I was born in this community and I’ve grown up right here. We used to have very good harvests, the rainfall pattern has been getting different over the years, and our output has been far much worse. You know, this has a very big bearing on our children because when there is no food raising then becomes very hard and providing for them is also far much difficult. | AN I was born in this community and I’ve grown up right here. We used to have very good harvests, the rainfall pattern has been getting different over the years, and our output has been far much worse. You know, this has a very big bearing on our children because when there is no food raising then becomes very hard and providing for them is also far much difficult. |
| In the past I would even harvest groundnuts, I would also even do some soy, now what it meant was that in the morning my kids would have porridge and then off they went to school happy on a full stomach. | In the past I would even harvest groundnuts, I would also even do some soy, now what it meant was that in the morning my kids would have porridge and then off they went to school happy on a full stomach. |
| Farming this year has been very hard, it’s been very difficult. We planted the first, the first maize but it all wilted off and we had to replant and what you see in the garden right now is our second planting, but then there is nothing as we can see. | Farming this year has been very hard, it’s been very difficult. We planted the first, the first maize but it all wilted off and we had to replant and what you see in the garden right now is our second planting, but then there is nothing as we can see. |
| I go into other people’s gardens but most of the times I have to go into the forest and find firewood which I sell to people and it is through this that I am finding food for my children. | I go into other people’s gardens but most of the times I have to go into the forest and find firewood which I sell to people and it is through this that I am finding food for my children. |
| LL Immaculate Bottoman, the senior area programme manager in Neno district for World Vision, explains how the area has been affected. | LL Immaculate Bottoman, the senior area programme manager in Neno district for World Vision, explains how the area has been affected. |
| IB We’ve had prolonged dry spells that have affected the crops in the field, currently, according to information from government, about 7,000 hectares of land have been affected, the crops have wilted, others is stiffening. | IB We’ve had prolonged dry spells that have affected the crops in the field, currently, according to information from government, about 7,000 hectares of land have been affected, the crops have wilted, others is stiffening. |
| It means that the community are going to harvest very little food this year. We are anticipating almost a 10% reduction of food production in this area. | It means that the community are going to harvest very little food this year. We are anticipating almost a 10% reduction of food production in this area. |
| LL Throughout the region droughts are now happening with increasing regularity. Beatrice Mwangi is resilience and livelihoods director for the Southern Africa region, World Vision. | LL Throughout the region droughts are now happening with increasing regularity. Beatrice Mwangi is resilience and livelihoods director for the Southern Africa region, World Vision. |
| BM It was one big drought every 10 years, then it came to one drought every five years, and now the trends are showing that it will be one every three to five years. So we are in a crisis all right, that is true, but it’s going to be the new norm. So our responses need to, to highlight that, our responses need to appreciate there is climate change and it’s going to affect the people that we work with, the communities we serve. So our responses also need to focus on the short term, the medium term, but the long term as well. | BM It was one big drought every 10 years, then it came to one drought every five years, and now the trends are showing that it will be one every three to five years. So we are in a crisis all right, that is true, but it’s going to be the new norm. So our responses need to, to highlight that, our responses need to appreciate there is climate change and it’s going to affect the people that we work with, the communities we serve. So our responses also need to focus on the short term, the medium term, but the long term as well. |
| LL So how has this situation come about? Opposition MP Juliana Lunguzi from the MCP. | LL So how has this situation come about? Opposition MP Juliana Lunguzi from the MCP. |
| JL If you ask, you see it in government documents and everything, they will tell you, oh we are facing this because we have El Niño, because climate change and everything. In every statement that we had we knew that we were going to have an El Niño in Malawi. I’m thinking, OK what you are telling me, it’s exactly what you told me last year. You’re supposed to prepare, but when you look on what we have done as a country you will see that mainly we are facing these problems because of our lack, I would say, of proper investment in the agriculture sector and also accountability, especially in the transition of the various loans that we have taken, and because of laxity within the system. | JL If you ask, you see it in government documents and everything, they will tell you, oh we are facing this because we have El Niño, because climate change and everything. In every statement that we had we knew that we were going to have an El Niño in Malawi. I’m thinking, OK what you are telling me, it’s exactly what you told me last year. You’re supposed to prepare, but when you look on what we have done as a country you will see that mainly we are facing these problems because of our lack, I would say, of proper investment in the agriculture sector and also accountability, especially in the transition of the various loans that we have taken, and because of laxity within the system. |
| LL In fact there is maize for sale in the markets but it’s not affordable for all. The Agriculture, Development and Marketing Corporation or Admarc is a government subsided organisation. Partially commercialised, it aims to generate profit as well as provide food for the most vulnerable, a difficult balance to achieve. | LL In fact there is maize for sale in the markets but it’s not affordable for all. The Agriculture, Development and Marketing Corporation or Admarc is a government subsided organisation. Partially commercialised, it aims to generate profit as well as provide food for the most vulnerable, a difficult balance to achieve. |
| In urban areas such as Blantyre, Malawi’s second city, a month’s supply of maize may cost the entire household budget. Others who aren’t formally employed may only be able to buy small quantities at a time and then have to hold out until Admarc has supplies available again. Noel Chalamanda, is the mayor of Blantyre. | In urban areas such as Blantyre, Malawi’s second city, a month’s supply of maize may cost the entire household budget. Others who aren’t formally employed may only be able to buy small quantities at a time and then have to hold out until Admarc has supplies available again. Noel Chalamanda, is the mayor of Blantyre. |
| NC We work with the local leadership in the local areas to identify people that need the help most. The chances of people in the city not from dying from hunger much better than in the rural areas because the options are much more than in the rural areas, but the question again at the end of the day is, can they afford it? | NC We work with the local leadership in the local areas to identify people that need the help most. The chances of people in the city not from dying from hunger much better than in the rural areas because the options are much more than in the rural areas, but the question again at the end of the day is, can they afford it? |
| LL Admarc has not had constant supplies, communities in rural Neno describe long queues of women standing in line for two days before being sent away with no maize. Meanwhile farmers are struggling to irrigate their crops. A few lucky ones have land near rivers or the lake but many cannot access water. World Vision has established a system of lead farmers for key communities in the district. | LL Admarc has not had constant supplies, communities in rural Neno describe long queues of women standing in line for two days before being sent away with no maize. Meanwhile farmers are struggling to irrigate their crops. A few lucky ones have land near rivers or the lake but many cannot access water. World Vision has established a system of lead farmers for key communities in the district. |
| EC I’m Edward Chimaimba, I’m the lead farmer with this Kholombidzo section. I am someone who is well conversant with the new farming technologies, I know how to apply fertiliser, I know when to prepare my garden in time for rains, and most of the times my family is food secure. | EC I’m Edward Chimaimba, I’m the lead farmer with this Kholombidzo section. I am someone who is well conversant with the new farming technologies, I know how to apply fertiliser, I know when to prepare my garden in time for rains, and most of the times my family is food secure. |
| For the past couple of years World Vision has been supporting me as a lead farmer and my farmers with farm inputs, seeds and sometimes fertilisers. At a time like this we go across to the river where we do irrigation but then, now, it’s not even the village who has space close to the river that they can be producing maize, what we are now thinking of is how best we can transfer that water right into the village where everyone can have access to that, because now with the inputs that were sorted by World Vision they can’t be accessed by everyone, because they can’t afford giving everyone, but then this year we are saying almost everyone will be hungry. So we are faced by this situation where we are thinking of where to find resources for those other farmers. | For the past couple of years World Vision has been supporting me as a lead farmer and my farmers with farm inputs, seeds and sometimes fertilisers. At a time like this we go across to the river where we do irrigation but then, now, it’s not even the village who has space close to the river that they can be producing maize, what we are now thinking of is how best we can transfer that water right into the village where everyone can have access to that, because now with the inputs that were sorted by World Vision they can’t be accessed by everyone, because they can’t afford giving everyone, but then this year we are saying almost everyone will be hungry. So we are faced by this situation where we are thinking of where to find resources for those other farmers. |
| LL In some districts advisers are trying to support farmers to make the shift to growing small grains which are more drought tolerant and move away from maize, however culture and tradition can be barriers to this. Thabani Maphosa is partnership leader for Food Assistance within World Vision. | LL In some districts advisers are trying to support farmers to make the shift to growing small grains which are more drought tolerant and move away from maize, however culture and tradition can be barriers to this. Thabani Maphosa is partnership leader for Food Assistance within World Vision. |
| TM It would help if they adopted small grains that are drought tolerant and some of those are crops that would work better for the environment but we are not seeing that adoption happening as fast as we would like to see it where culturally the white maize is what has traditionally been a staple crop, and when you are changing things that are that ingrained to a society it does take time. | TM It would help if they adopted small grains that are drought tolerant and some of those are crops that would work better for the environment but we are not seeing that adoption happening as fast as we would like to see it where culturally the white maize is what has traditionally been a staple crop, and when you are changing things that are that ingrained to a society it does take time. |
| In some communities sorghum was always associated with being a crop for the poor, and so many people are struggling with accepting that they may be poor, but that is not the case, it shouldn’t be about whether they are, whether they should be accepting whether they are poor or not but they should be accepting what is viable within their context and within their communities and that’s a work that will take a while. | In some communities sorghum was always associated with being a crop for the poor, and so many people are struggling with accepting that they may be poor, but that is not the case, it shouldn’t be about whether they are, whether they should be accepting whether they are poor or not but they should be accepting what is viable within their context and within their communities and that’s a work that will take a while. |
| LL And of course the involvement of farmers in the communities themselves is key to finding solutions. Fordson Kafweku is the deputy national director, World Vision, Malawi. | LL And of course the involvement of farmers in the communities themselves is key to finding solutions. Fordson Kafweku is the deputy national director, World Vision, Malawi. |
| FK Everywhere where we have a river we should be able to do irrigation. I was very pleasantly surprised when I went to one the programmes just near here, near Lilongwe, I found one farmer who was using what he was calling wasted water from a borehole, and this water when the women are pumping and getting the water, the children, some of that run-off, what he has done is he has dug a pit and that water goes in there and he pumps it in a tree and he uses gravity, and one by one he’s actually irrigating his crops. It was amazing, I think that man has got something like half a hectare of maize being produced with that kind of water. So that’s what we’re trying to let people know, that it’s not about wanting to have so much water but how we are going to use it, because that’s a simple principle of drip irrigation. | FK Everywhere where we have a river we should be able to do irrigation. I was very pleasantly surprised when I went to one the programmes just near here, near Lilongwe, I found one farmer who was using what he was calling wasted water from a borehole, and this water when the women are pumping and getting the water, the children, some of that run-off, what he has done is he has dug a pit and that water goes in there and he pumps it in a tree and he uses gravity, and one by one he’s actually irrigating his crops. It was amazing, I think that man has got something like half a hectare of maize being produced with that kind of water. So that’s what we’re trying to let people know, that it’s not about wanting to have so much water but how we are going to use it, because that’s a simple principle of drip irrigation. |
| LL Meanwhile vulnerable households continue to face critical shortages. Juliana Lunguzi again. | LL Meanwhile vulnerable households continue to face critical shortages. Juliana Lunguzi again. |
| JL Because what is happening now, I went through the village, it was a school day, you will find girls who are just sitting without going to school. So you are asking why are you not going to school? We are too hungry. Parents are taking these kids to go and queue at the Admarc depot while they are trying to do other things. | JL Because what is happening now, I went through the village, it was a school day, you will find girls who are just sitting without going to school. So you are asking why are you not going to school? We are too hungry. Parents are taking these kids to go and queue at the Admarc depot while they are trying to do other things. |
| LL I’m here now with Rose Norman, a 60-year-old widow, who clearly takes great pride in how she maintains her compound. She’s the only breadwinner in a household of five children. | LL I’m here now with Rose Norman, a 60-year-old widow, who clearly takes great pride in how she maintains her compound. She’s the only breadwinner in a household of five children. |
| RN Because I’m the only breadwinner in this house when I wake up in the morning, since I don’t have enough food to eat, I rush and do piece work, with the little money that I get, I send the children to go and buy flour on the market, and then we can make some food for the children. The local bread, that’s what we make and share with the children to eat. When there is no food at home, women are not free, they are not happy because they are always thinking about their family, just as I am thinking about my children. | RN Because I’m the only breadwinner in this house when I wake up in the morning, since I don’t have enough food to eat, I rush and do piece work, with the little money that I get, I send the children to go and buy flour on the market, and then we can make some food for the children. The local bread, that’s what we make and share with the children to eat. When there is no food at home, women are not free, they are not happy because they are always thinking about their family, just as I am thinking about my children. |
| LL As the situation deteriorates many families are simply focusing on finding food to feed themselves and their children each day, but when other basic needs are pushed off the priority list this can have a knock on effect. Immaculate Bottoman again. | LL As the situation deteriorates many families are simply focusing on finding food to feed themselves and their children each day, but when other basic needs are pushed off the priority list this can have a knock on effect. Immaculate Bottoman again. |
| IB Instead of the community focussing on the development interventions that we do with them, they now focus on finding food for the next day. And usually education is also affected in that children, instead of going to school, they are left at home to go and look for food and support their families as well. | IB Instead of the community focussing on the development interventions that we do with them, they now focus on finding food for the next day. And usually education is also affected in that children, instead of going to school, they are left at home to go and look for food and support their families as well. |
| LL Nearby I come across Mary Gangisa. She’s 17 and expecting her first child and has had to drop out of school. She’s not yet had any antenatal advice and is clearly still coming to terms with her situation. | LL Nearby I come across Mary Gangisa. She’s 17 and expecting her first child and has had to drop out of school. She’s not yet had any antenatal advice and is clearly still coming to terms with her situation. |
| MG I destroyed my future because I stopped going to school. Right now we just managed to buy maybe one packet of maize, and we just eat for a few days and then the food is finished. So I lacked in notebooks and other things which are needed for my school. | MG I destroyed my future because I stopped going to school. Right now we just managed to buy maybe one packet of maize, and we just eat for a few days and then the food is finished. So I lacked in notebooks and other things which are needed for my school. |
| LL Virginia Kachigunda is deputy director for School Health and Nutrition, the part of the education ministry that deals with emergencies. | LL Virginia Kachigunda is deputy director for School Health and Nutrition, the part of the education ministry that deals with emergencies. |
| VK It, it’s true, girls are the most affected when it comes to emergencies. Not only emergencies, even culturally in Malawi we, we are deliberately focusing on girl child education because the girls are at a disadvantage. And when problems like a drought occur it is the girl child which is pulled out from school, not willingly, but the demands to care are placed on the shoulders of the girl child, she has to go out and look for food and some of these girls are engaged in transactional sex. | VK It, it’s true, girls are the most affected when it comes to emergencies. Not only emergencies, even culturally in Malawi we, we are deliberately focusing on girl child education because the girls are at a disadvantage. And when problems like a drought occur it is the girl child which is pulled out from school, not willingly, but the demands to care are placed on the shoulders of the girl child, she has to go out and look for food and some of these girls are engaged in transactional sex. |
| When girls drop out from school maybe they are pregnant because of the circumstances that they’re in. The government is receiving them back after delivery, so this is a deliberate action that government has, has done to make sure that we can bring back the girls who missed their way and they can do well. I am one of such kind of girls, I had my baby when I was in form one and I went back to school, now I am a deputy director here. | When girls drop out from school maybe they are pregnant because of the circumstances that they’re in. The government is receiving them back after delivery, so this is a deliberate action that government has, has done to make sure that we can bring back the girls who missed their way and they can do well. I am one of such kind of girls, I had my baby when I was in form one and I went back to school, now I am a deputy director here. |
| LL Juliana Lunguzi also agrees that for girls getting an education is crucial. | LL Juliana Lunguzi also agrees that for girls getting an education is crucial. |
| JL Without education, that’s it for you, so you are just recycling the poverty at household level. We are recycling our poverty because if somebody drops out of school, what do you do with a 10-year-old at home? Eventually they will get married so these are the early marriages that we don’t want, and you are looking at all the maternal complications that you have big fistula or even obstructive labour to these girls and these have long term socio, I mean psychological effects. | JL Without education, that’s it for you, so you are just recycling the poverty at household level. We are recycling our poverty because if somebody drops out of school, what do you do with a 10-year-old at home? Eventually they will get married so these are the early marriages that we don’t want, and you are looking at all the maternal complications that you have big fistula or even obstructive labour to these girls and these have long term socio, I mean psychological effects. |
| BM The southern part of Malawi is badly, badly hit and Swaziland, as I mentioned, Lesotho, the number of heads of cows, cattle that is dead in those countries is a bit high, Zimbabwe as well, 22,000 cows lost at this point, and the number is growing. | BM The southern part of Malawi is badly, badly hit and Swaziland, as I mentioned, Lesotho, the number of heads of cows, cattle that is dead in those countries is a bit high, Zimbabwe as well, 22,000 cows lost at this point, and the number is growing. |
| LL That’s Beatrice Mwangi again, she works on resilience and livelihoods for the Southern Africa region. | LL That’s Beatrice Mwangi again, she works on resilience and livelihoods for the Southern Africa region. |
| I’ve now reached Masvingo province, a particularly dry area in the south of Zimbabwe where the effect of the drought extends well beyond dying livestock and the failed harvest. Even communities that normally irrigate here describe how they’re faced with silted up dams. | I’ve now reached Masvingo province, a particularly dry area in the south of Zimbabwe where the effect of the drought extends well beyond dying livestock and the failed harvest. Even communities that normally irrigate here describe how they’re faced with silted up dams. |
| Bernard Hadzirabwi is the district administrator for Chivi district. He explains the impact of the drought on the community he serves. | Bernard Hadzirabwi is the district administrator for Chivi district. He explains the impact of the drought on the community he serves. |
| BH The other problem the district is facing is a shortage of potable water. We have very little of surface water so basically people for domestic use and their livestock rely on borehole water but are now faced with the situation whereby they have to buy food, it’s now really very difficult for them to buy food plus livestock feed. So livestock is one of the basic means of surviving for the people here, and now the livestock is dying. | BH The other problem the district is facing is a shortage of potable water. We have very little of surface water so basically people for domestic use and their livestock rely on borehole water but are now faced with the situation whereby they have to buy food, it’s now really very difficult for them to buy food plus livestock feed. So livestock is one of the basic means of surviving for the people here, and now the livestock is dying. |
| LL And children are particularly badly affected. | LL And children are particularly badly affected. |
| BH So for the average child being served one meal a day to come to school and to learn properly, it’s very difficult. Also the issue, those who are living close to some big townships you’ll find some young girls involved in paid practices like prostitution which will otherwise lead you to sexually transmitted diseases impacting negatively again on their future and their lives. | BH So for the average child being served one meal a day to come to school and to learn properly, it’s very difficult. Also the issue, those who are living close to some big townships you’ll find some young girls involved in paid practices like prostitution which will otherwise lead you to sexually transmitted diseases impacting negatively again on their future and their lives. |
| LL As in Malawi it’s not just about the availability of grain but prices that are beyond the reach of many. Thabani Maphosa again. | LL As in Malawi it’s not just about the availability of grain but prices that are beyond the reach of many. Thabani Maphosa again. |
| TM In Zimbabwe I understand that the prices are between $15 to $22 for a 50-kg bag of maize. For a family of five it could probably be for a month. Food inflation has been creeping up, we have seen price increases up to 30% above normal in the recent past. | TM In Zimbabwe I understand that the prices are between $15 to $22 for a 50-kg bag of maize. For a family of five it could probably be for a month. Food inflation has been creeping up, we have seen price increases up to 30% above normal in the recent past. |
| LL According to Fordson Kafweku government’s only just starting to catch up with the scale of the problem in the region. | LL According to Fordson Kafweku government’s only just starting to catch up with the scale of the problem in the region. |
| FK Most of the countries are actually realising that the climate change is real and so it doesn’t take that easy to just change, yeah so there’s a lot that needs to be changed, there are policies that need to be enacted, there are lot of investments that needs to be taking place and I think the governments in Southern Africa are really responding. | FK Most of the countries are actually realising that the climate change is real and so it doesn’t take that easy to just change, yeah so there’s a lot that needs to be changed, there are policies that need to be enacted, there are lot of investments that needs to be taking place and I think the governments in Southern Africa are really responding. |
| LL So what is being done to help? This month, SADC, The Southern African Development Community, declared a regional disaster and now governments are coordinating food imports. Chichewa in Malawi is a particularly beautiful region but also one that’s been badly affected by flooding. At a food distribution I meet people coming to collect their allocation of maize, cooking oil and lentils. The lentils from the US take a bit of explaining though, as they’re not normal fare here. The food is badly needed and much appreciated, everybody mucks in to help unload the lorry when it gets stuck a few hundred metres from the distribution point in the silted up soil. | LL So what is being done to help? This month, SADC, The Southern African Development Community, declared a regional disaster and now governments are coordinating food imports. Chichewa in Malawi is a particularly beautiful region but also one that’s been badly affected by flooding. At a food distribution I meet people coming to collect their allocation of maize, cooking oil and lentils. The lentils from the US take a bit of explaining though, as they’re not normal fare here. The food is badly needed and much appreciated, everybody mucks in to help unload the lorry when it gets stuck a few hundred metres from the distribution point in the silted up soil. |
| The World Food Programme has already extended its support for a further month due to ongoing need. They’re saying Malawi needs a further $38m to help those affected. One key challenge is to keep longer term development going while also responding to the current emergency. Thabani Maphosa again. | The World Food Programme has already extended its support for a further month due to ongoing need. They’re saying Malawi needs a further $38m to help those affected. One key challenge is to keep longer term development going while also responding to the current emergency. Thabani Maphosa again. |
| TM World Vision has been pushing for farmer-managed natural regeneration, we have seen that it works, it is paying great dividends in countries like Niger in west Africa, but you have got to give it time and when donors and communities don’t have time, and what they want is a quick fix it can be difficult, so some of the solutions that would help us to really deal decisively with this issue are not quick fixes, you have got to have some staying power. And I think we do have a challenge of staying power, both from the communities’ perspective sometimes and from the donors as well. | TM World Vision has been pushing for farmer-managed natural regeneration, we have seen that it works, it is paying great dividends in countries like Niger in west Africa, but you have got to give it time and when donors and communities don’t have time, and what they want is a quick fix it can be difficult, so some of the solutions that would help us to really deal decisively with this issue are not quick fixes, you have got to have some staying power. And I think we do have a challenge of staying power, both from the communities’ perspective sometimes and from the donors as well. |
| LL In response to the scale of this year’s emergency some donors, like the UK, are trying new approaches alongside traditional food distributions. In Zimbabwe they are funding a pilot programme for example that transfers cash via mobile phones so that people can buy food in local markets. | LL In response to the scale of this year’s emergency some donors, like the UK, are trying new approaches alongside traditional food distributions. In Zimbabwe they are funding a pilot programme for example that transfers cash via mobile phones so that people can buy food in local markets. |
| TM We give people cash and they buy food and at the moment what we’ve been watching and we’re trying to monitor is as this drought deepens and goes further on how are the markets going to respond, because for us that’s the tricky piece, at which point do we need to be working with food in kind because the inflation is overtaking us, or at which point do we still need to still stick with the cash? | TM We give people cash and they buy food and at the moment what we’ve been watching and we’re trying to monitor is as this drought deepens and goes further on how are the markets going to respond, because for us that’s the tricky piece, at which point do we need to be working with food in kind because the inflation is overtaking us, or at which point do we still need to still stick with the cash? |
| LL While communities are facing up to the need to adapt away from their current overdependence on rain-fed farming, in the short term the daily struggle faced by millions of families to find food just to survive that day continues. | LL While communities are facing up to the need to adapt away from their current overdependence on rain-fed farming, in the short term the daily struggle faced by millions of families to find food just to survive that day continues. |
| TM In the past if things were bad for you you would know you could turn to your neighbour and they would give you a hand, but now even that neighbour is also hungry and now we are all facing the same challenge. | TM In the past if things were bad for you you would know you could turn to your neighbour and they would give you a hand, but now even that neighbour is also hungry and now we are all facing the same challenge. |
| JL We will continue hearing these stories of people dying, people getting sick, and if you go to the hospital you’re looking at increased malnourished children. | JL We will continue hearing these stories of people dying, people getting sick, and if you go to the hospital you’re looking at increased malnourished children. |
| MG That’s the situation, that as you can see that there is no maize in the fields so we are not expecting to get anything. So we have the situation now I won’t be having food for myself to feed the baby. | MG That’s the situation, that as you can see that there is no maize in the fields so we are not expecting to get anything. So we have the situation now I won’t be having food for myself to feed the baby. |
| LL That’s all for this month’s global development podcast. You can hear all of our podcasts on theguardian.com/global-development, or on iTunes, Soundcloud and all podcasting apps. Thank you for listening. My name is Lucy Lamble and the producer is Kary Stewart. We return as usual next month. | LL That’s all for this month’s global development podcast. You can hear all of our podcasts on theguardian.com/global-development, or on iTunes, Soundcloud and all podcasting apps. Thank you for listening. My name is Lucy Lamble and the producer is Kary Stewart. We return as usual next month. |