Catholic Church Echo Appeal For Food Assistance In Malawi

Most Rev. Msusa signed the statement 

The Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM) has appealed to people of goodwill to quickly assist thousands of Malawians facing hunger during this 2016/2017 consumption year as the magnitude of the food shortage threatens lives of many Malawians.

Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee Report (MVAC, 2016) indicates 6.5 million Malawians require humanitarian assistance.

In a statement from Catholic Church Secretariat in Malawi released on Sunday evening, signed by Most Reverend Thomas Luke Msusa, Chairman for ECM, Bishops have expressed their deepest concern with the current food insecurity which they deem will potentially reduce people’s “full humanity” as food gives life.

While acknowledging humanitarian assistance that some have began to give to Malawi, Bishops have called upon others to do the same saying “the situation is really threatening our country.”

“We, therefore, wish to join the State President in calling upon National and International stakeholders, institutions, Bodies, men and women of good will to come to the fore and help avert the situation. The current food insecurity situation in Malawi, require concerted efforts from multidimensional stakeholders. Together we can preserve the human dignity of our brothers and sisters in need of food aid.” Reads the plea

The ECM appeal further indicates that humanitarian assistance fits into their calling as the Church which is a call for service to humanity, “with preferential option for the poor and the most marginalized as the guiding principle.”

“As Gods stewards in His vineyard, we plead with those who have the capacity to come forward in supporting' our Brothers and Sisters in need of food aid between now and the next harvesting season.”

Malawi is suffering a second year of poor harvests due to effects of drought “El Nino” weather which has left serious impact both on the economy and on food security, requiring a major humanitarian response.

However, noting that the current situation underscores Malawi’s serious need to improve the resilience of the agricultural sector and to develop a better system of risk management as the country expected to continue to face climate-induced shocks into the future, the ECM has also challenged the nation find sustainable and innovative ways of protecting the country from falling back into the same trap of food insecurity year in and out.

Noting that signs and impact of hunger situation are now visible by pointing out malnutrition cases now being registered in hospitals, Bishops have therefore underlined that this require immediate and long term solutions to end the problem.

“While we acknowledge the attributed cause of food insecurity in our country, it is high time we started thinking differently as a nation. The current hunger situation is a "parradox in the land of plenty." As we think of the humanitarian assistance which is needed immediately, we should also take time to reflect on long time strategies to food security in Malawi” statement  observe

In the statement, Bishops have commended Government for coming up with National Resilience Plan, which is aimed at breaking the cycle of food insecurity, however, have also appealed to Government to make sure that the policies are translated into actions.

“Policies and strategic plans without actions are nothing. We feel as a nation we need a complete paradigm shift in the way we do things, no more business as usual on food security issues. Food security translates into the very sanctity of life.” the statement stressed

Among others, Bishops have in their statement also appealed for reforms in Farm Input Subsidy Programme (FISP) and are proposing for integral and people-centered sustainable and innovative ways of supporting rural farmers who are the most affected despite them being food producers.  Bishops believe this is a fertile ground for medium and long term recovery strategies.

“In the response to the current food insecurity situation partners need to undertake context analysis on how the aid can contribute to medium and long term development so that we cannot keep our people in a state of destitution. It is also high time we reflected on what are the humanitarian response modalities that are human empowering and dignifying as well as sustainable.” Appeals the Bishops

Further peal to Government has also been made on developing and renovating the dilapidated agriculture infrastructure, intensifying water harvesting mechanisms for irrigation, resuscitate agriculture extension services and, enactment of Right to Food Bill as one way of commitment to food security.