MALAWI: Irrigation brings hope to the drought-hit south

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

NSANJE, 7 Oct 2005 (IRIN) - In the arid landscape of Malawi's drought-hit southern Nsanje district there is a 12 ha lush-green field of maize that will be harvested by the end of November; it is perhaps the only food output in the district in many months.

The farm is part of a pilot irrigation scheme called Sapatongwe, watered by the perennial Shire river that flows through the drought-prone district for at least 200 km.

Although Damson Chapo's village is near the river, he pointed out that "we all depend on the rain - we don't have resources to use water from the river. There was no rainfall this year - all our crops died".

Ironically, almost all of Malawi's 27 districts have access to a body of water - a river or one of the country's five lakes - noted R P Mwadiwa, permanent secretary in the ministry of agriculture and irrigation.

"Malawi can emerge out of the endless cycle of drought tomorrow if the country harnesses its water resources to irrigate its crops," said Evance Chavasuka of the USAID-funded Famine Early Warning System Network.

According to Antonella D'Aprile, spokeswoman for the UN's World Food Programme (WFP), "only two percent of Malawi's arable land is under irrigation."

WFP established Sapatongwe in August this year to help small-scale farmers break the seemingly endless cycle of drought. Malawi is in its fourth year of failed rains and the WFP has warned that five million people could be in need of food aid in the coming months.

The scheme, about 200 km from the commercial capital, Blantyre, has received support in kind from the Malawian government and the Irish NGO, GOAL, with funding from the European Union.

"We have shown that with very little resources we can secure a good harvest, even in the middle of a desert," said D'Aprile. The scheme is a cooperative venture between 96 farmers from vulnerable households who have dug canals from the river to their fields.

Another section of the field is irrigated with water pumped from the river. "This is of course more expensive, as you need to buy fuel for the pumps; we wanted to show the farmers that they had many options," said GOAL's Amos Zaindi.

At the end of the harvest in November the NGOs will hand over the scheme to the community and hope that it is duplicated along the river.

The Malawian government had already started developing other irrigation schemes, said Mwadiwa. "We intend to achieve food self-sufficiency within the next two years; we are going to do whatever it takes - irrigation schemes, distribution of seeds - everything it takes to ensure that."

Low-tech treadle pumps that rely on human energy have been handed out to all members of parliament to distribute in their constituencies. "We are concentrating on such small- to medium-scale efforts which require little resources but can benefit a greater number of people," Mwadiwa noted.

But while the country and its partners look for long-term solutions, hunger looms over Malawi. More than 3,000 people from over 80 villages queue for the monthly WFP rations that GOAL distributes at a school in Nsanje town.

Each person receives a 50 kg bag of maize, which only covers half the daily adult calorie requirement, according to D'Aprile. WFP has been battling with limited resources and has appealed for pulses and oil to be able to provide a portion of the necessary additional nutrition.

"This food will only last us two weeks," said a gaunt Nyamuthambo Zuze, who heads a household of eight people, including six children. Between rations the villages depend on the Shire for its nyika (water lilies).

"We trust our fate to God each time we dive into the water for the water lilies," said Zuze. The river's crocodiles have claimed two such divers from the village in recent months. The water lilies are boiled and the starchy content is pounded into a porridge.

The faces in the queue look tired. Gwire Fero, 56, has been looking after three orphans aged between three and six years since their parents died of AIDS last year.

He is weak, yet smiles and says, "I have to be strong. When we have no food we live on green bananas." Fero had walked for four hours from his village that morning to join the queue. "I need the food for the children."

A few kilometres away in a government-run Nutritional Rehabilitation Unit (NRU), another grandfather helps his eight-year-old grandaughter, Malit Antonio, who is recovering from acute malnutrition, to take a therapeutic drink. Malit is among more than 20 children the unit is treating for hunger-related illnesses.

During their stay at the NRU the guardians are taught kitchen gardening skills and receive a take-home gardening kit and vegetable seeds provided by the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation when they leave.

The NRU recorded 29 deaths between January and September this year. "It is not an unusual number - we record similar figures every year in this area, where malnutrition is a chronic problem. But in the last month alone we recorded eight deaths, which was high," said Nsanje district health officer Medson Semba.

"It is not that nothing is being done - we are treating people, food is being distributed - but one can only assume that it is not enough," he added.

In August the UN appealed for US $88 million to respond to the hunger crisis in Malawi; so far, donors have contributed or pledged just over $15 million.

[ENDS]