Government subsidies will focus on encouraging farmers to grow protein-rich crops to stabilise food supply

A nutrition act and new crops are at the centre of the Malawi government's latest attempts to overcome the effects of annual food shortages that affect more than 10% of the population.

CHIKHWAWA, Malawi, Sep 15 2012 (IPS) - Three-month-old Simplicious Gift lives in Mafunga village in Malawi’s southern rural district of Chikhwawa, 48 kilometres from the commercial capital, Blantyre. His is a poor farming village of about 1,200 people who live off their harvests and the produce from their livestock of goats, pigs and cows.

While a large portion of the population in this region may be facing food insecurity this year because of poor harvests, whatever the situation, Simplicious will not go wanting for health care.

Maize, rice, and cassava are the most important food commodities. Markets selected represent the entire geographic length of the country: two markets in each of the north, center, and south. In the north, Karonga is one of the most active markets in maize and rice and is influenced by informal cross-border trade with Tanzania. Mzimba is a major maize producing area in the northern region. Salima, in the center along the lake, is an important market where some of the fishing populations are almost entirely dependent on the market for staple cereals.

Food Insecurity to Intensify in the Region

A total of 5.48 million people will be food insecure in the 2012/13 consumption year. This is a staggering increase of 39% from the 2011/12 consumption year.

Increasing staple food prices, high fuel prices and declining purchasing power