Almost 4.2 million people in Malawi are estimated to experience high levels of acute food insecurity between May and September 2024, including 56,000 people in IPC Phase 4 (emergency) and 4.1 million people in IPC Phase 3 (crisis), according to the latest IPC analysis. The analysis, released on Friday, warns that most people facing crisis or emergency levels are unable to produce enough of their own food and rely on market purchases.
Food insecurity, malnutrition and water scarcity in Malawi have been exacerbated by extreme weather events and a worsening climate crisis. The affected people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance to reduce their food consumption gaps, protect and restore their livelihoods, and prevent high levels of acute malnutrition.
According to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis, a total of 10.9 million people in the southeastern African country are currently experiencing some form of acute food insecurity, with 6.7 million people classified in IPC Phase 2 (Stress) between May and September 2024. They require interventions to mitigate disaster risks and protect their livelihoods.
The IPC is a collaborative initiative involving more than 20 partners, including governments, UN agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The initiative uses global, scientific standards to assess levels of food insecurity. The IPC Acute Food Insecurity Scale consists of five classifications: (1) minimal/none, (2) stressed, (3) crisis, (4) emergency, and (5) catastrophe/famine.
The situation is expected to worsen between October 2024 and March 2025, which coincides with the lean season in Malawi. Nearly 5.7 million people are estimated to be in crisis or worse levels during this period, with 416,000 people expected to be in emergency levels of acute food insecurity.
Affected people, particularly those in emergency levels, will require urgent humanitarian assistance to reduce food gaps, protect and restore livelihoods, and prevent acute malnutrition. The IPC said the impact of the El Niño weather phenomenon on crop production will further exacerbate the situation and is likely to result in an earlier onset of the lean season.
The southeastern African country is still reeling from the consequences of tropical storms and cyclones in 2022 and 2023. In March 2023, the longest tropical cyclone on record hit Malawi, causing widespread damage, killing hundreds of people, leaving more than 650,000 homeless, and affecting about 2.3 million people.
In early 2024, nearly 2 million farming families and more than 40 percent of the country's agricultural land were affected by extreme weather, with rains and prolonged dry spells, as well as flooding, severely damaging crops and food production.
Malawi has experienced a 17 percent decline in maize production compared to last year. The situation is exacerbated by high food prices, the country's ongoing economic instability, and inflation.
The problem is not unique to Malawi.
El Niño has led to warmer and drier conditions, resulting in record-breaking droughts across Southern Africa in 2023 and early 2024. The weather phenomenon has caused widespread crop failures in the region and led to national emergency declarations in Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
El Niño occurs on average every two to seven years, with episodes typically lasting 9 to 12 months. It is a naturally occurring climate pattern associated with warming ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific. However, the pattern occurs in the context of a climate that has been altered by human activities.
According to the United Nations, an estimated 60 million people in Southern Africa are food insecure due to drought and flooding. Heavy rains and flooding associated with El Niño have affected Madagascar, Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia. In March, Tropical Storm Gamane caused widespread damage, displacement and disruption of services in Madagascar.
Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe have made international appeals for help, but Angola, Eswatini, Madagascar, Mozambique and Tanzania have also been affected by the dry spell that has gripped Southern Africa. It is likely that other countries will follow suit.
In the region, the worst mid-season dry spell in over 100 years, compounded by the lowest mid-season rainfall in 40 years and exacerbated by the El Niño phenomenon, has had a severe impact on the population. People are experiencing staggering levels of food insecurity, acute malnutrition, water shortages and disease outbreaks.
As El Niño's grip loosens, the weather phenomenon of La Niña is looming. This phenomenon typically leads to heavy rains and flooding, further damaging crops and displacing people.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns that in a region where 70 percent of smallholder farmers depend on rain-fed agriculture for their livelihoods, the impact of the severe drought on food security is severe.
More than 61 million people in the region have been affected by drought and other extreme weather conditions caused by El Niño and exacerbated by the climate crisis. A total of 20.9 million people, mainly in Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Madagascar, were projected to face severe acute food insecurity by May 2024.
The severe drought is also causing a water crisis in the region, affecting both people and animals.
Additionally, the region is grappling with one of the worst cholera outbreaks in decades, with Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe among the eight worst affected countries in the world. Nearly 58,000 cases and more than 1,100 deaths have been reported since January this year, with a total of 171,000 cases reported since January 2023.
In its latest update on the crisis in Southern Africa, OCHA says the number of forcibly displaced, returnees and stateless people in the Southern Africa region is expected to continue to rise in 2024, mostly people uprooted by the impact of climate crises such as drought and floods, and the complex emergency in Mozambique.
The United Nations has urged solidarity with drought-affected people in Southern Africa and called on the international community to help scale up a timely emergency response to drought in the region.
In May, an extraordinary summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) launched the SADC Humanitarian Appeal. The SADC plan seeks US$5.5 billion to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to more than 56.6 million people, including 3.5 million children in need of nutritional support.
The Southern African Development Community is a regional economic bloc with 16 member states: Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The Regional Humanitarian Appeal was developed with the support and cooperation of OCHA, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and other regional and international humanitarian organizations.
Further information
Full text: Malawi: IPC Acute Food Insecurity Analysis, May 2024 - March 2025, IPC published on July 5, 2024
https://www.ipcinfo.org/fileadmin/user_upload/ipcinfo/docs/IPC_Malawi_Acute_Food_Insecurity_May_2024_Mar_2025_Report.pdf
Full text: Southern Africa: Humanitarian Snapshot (As of June 2024), UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, report, released July 3, 2024
https://reliefweb.int/report/malawi/southern-africa-humanitarian-snapshot-june-2024