Attachments
Description of the Event
Date when the trigger was met
25-10-2025
What happened, where and when?
Malawi is facing the worst food insecurity crisis of the past 7 years, affecting over 4 million people during the 2025/2026 consumption year. According to the recently released Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee (MVAC), the affected population span in all districts and include communities classified under IPC Phase 3 (Crisis) and IPC Phase 4 (Emergency). The crisis stems from consecutive seasons of adverse climatic conditions. The 2024/2025 agricultural season was significantly disrupted by La Niña weather patterns, which led to a late and erratic onset of rains, prolonged dry spells, and reduced rainy days. These anomalies severely affected crop production across the country. In addition, fall armyworm infestations in some districts and macroeconomic shocks such as currency devaluation and inflation exacerbated the vulnerability of farming households and market dependent communities.
Key dates on the this emergency situation:
• Mid-October, the Malawi Government made a public appeal for Humanitarian Assistance
• Mid-October, the Malawi Red Cross Society developed and shared its food security situation analysis and update to its partners and the IFRC calling for support.
• On 17th October, the Department for Disaster Management Affairs made a request to support the department in mobilizing resources for the response.
• The Lean Season Response will run from October 2025–March 2026: Critical window for humanitarian food aid delivery.
The Malawi Red Cross Society in the auxiliary role to the public authorities is called to support in the current state of emergency, through all available mechanism. This support will not only address the current emergency situation but it will also assist to boost community support to different developmental and resilience projects which MRCS is implementing in these targeted districts, in coordination with some of the above partners.