Project: Reducing food and income insecurity among vulnerable households in Malawi through climate services and integrated risk management
Beneficiary: World Food Programme
Amount: 2.500.000 euro
Duration: 2017-2019
Flanders supports the World Food Programme (WFP) in protecting farmers in Malawi against the increasing climate challenges. Recent months WFP has paid food and / or cash transfers to 5.8 million Malawians who can not meet their food needs as a result of the drought by the weather phenomenon El Niño. Now, El Niño is over, La Niña will be introduced. La Niña is characterized by periods of sustained rain and increased risk of flooding. Again, a drastic impact on the crops and thus the food security of the Malawian population.
This project contributes to breaking the spiral of food crises by climate-related aid prevention. Thereby, WFP integrates four complementary instruments, acting on the short, medium and long term. Through appropriate climate and agricultural information services, farmers can take the necessary measures to safeguard their crops in times of suddenly changing weather conditions. In addition, farmers are encouraged to take steps throughout the year to maintain heir equipment and irrigation systems, to improve the fertility of the land and to spread risk by diversifying crops. Finally, an insurance system provides rapid intervention in case of unexpected setbacks due to weather, so farmers can recover more quickly after an emergency. This is not a test case for WFP; the integration of the four proposed components has already successfully been applied in the Balaka district.