Maize Scarcity Hits Zomba

By: Alick Sichali

While President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika is continuing to assure people that no one will die of hunger, people in Zomba have expressed worries because many ADMARC depots have been without the staple food for two solid months The Malawi Star has learnt.

Speaking in an interview, a Community Development committee member in Chingalume said that the food shortage in the area has been there since last year when the country faced severe floods.

“The food shortage has been here since last year January when the country faced the tragedy of floods. Now were are also facing the same problem,” said Phiri

He pleaded with the government and other stakeholders to help the area by planting more trees in order to prevent the same tragedies near future.

In his remarks, Member of Parliament for the constituency John Chikalimba said he is considering all means to help the people. This follows the recent donation of bags of maize flour in the area.

Chikalimba also asked the government to encourage farmers to start practicing irrigation farming so that in the future, we should not be affected by the effects of climate change as we do now.

“Yes, Our country is facing many problems, but let’s not just leave them all to the government alone. As citizens, we should do something and embark on irrigation farming. This will help us avoid the current climate change situation, ”said Chikalimba.

Currently, the government is trying although with little success to resolve the food crisis as most parts of the country are affected with the food shortages.

In some areas, a 50 kg bag of maize is being sold at Mk15, 000 which is too expensive for many Malawians due to the current economic problems in the country.