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Malawi

Volume 400: debated on Monday 24 February 2003

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To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much aid her Department is giving to Malawi to deal with food shortages. [98271]

The Department for International Development has spent approximately £34 million since the onset of the crisis: on food importation and distribution, provision of wages for employment on public works programmes (cash for work), support to agricultural production (targeted inputs of seed and fertiliser for 2 million of the poorest farmers) and rehabilitation of rail and road links on the import corridors. DFID's contribution forms a significant part of the effective consortium approach developed to deal with the crisis in which the Malawi Government, donors, NGOs and the commercial sector are partners.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what evidence has been collated by her Department on the early harvesting of immature maize in Malawi; and what assessment she has made of the effects of late planting of maize in Malawi on food stocks there. [98991]

Early harvesting of maize for immediate use is a regular component of the coping strategies for poor rural household in Malawi during the annual hungry season, which lasts normally from January to March. Although this may result in reduction in the grain harvest, the impact on national food security is expected to be minimal as present national maize grain stocks are higher than at any similar time during the last five years.Although there has been some localised flooding, the general picture of the 2002–03 rainy season remains good, with the latest maize crop estimate for a harvest of 2.05 million tonnes, about 95 per cent. of national requirements.