Responding to the impacts of El Niño on the agriculture sector through cash-based interventions

Since late-2023, Malawi has been affected by the El Niño phenomenon, which is typically associated with drier conditions in the country. In line with these projections, El Niño has resulted in prolonged dry spells, particularly during February 2024 (corresponding to the peak of the main crops’ growth season), resulting in severe impacts on agricultural production, livelihoods and food security.

Following the prolonged dry spells induced by El Niño conditions, in March 2024, the President of Malawi declared a state of disaster in 23 out of 28 districts due to the significant decline in food production. Reports indicate that close to 2 million farming households have been affected, representing over 9 million people. Moreover, conditions have severely damaged crops and prospects of food production, with approximately 749 113 ha of maize crop affected, representing 44.3 percent of national crop area. Other key crops impacted include rice, soya beans, cowpeas and groundnuts. This situation is likely to worsen the already fragile food security situation in Malawi. The President emphasized the urgent need to provide food assistance and increase production to reduce the food gap.

To mitigate the negative impacts of El Niño on people’s lives and livelihoods, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has received financial support from the Government of the Kingdom of Belgium through SFERA, for a total amount of USD 500 000.

Thanks to Belgium’s crucial contribution through SFERA, FAO will be able to provide emergency cash-based assistance to 3 000 vulnerable farming households in two of the geographical locations most affected by the El Niño phenomenon, Machinga and Mangochi. This support will be complemented with activities to build the capacities of affected households through training on climate resilience production and post-harvest storage, as well as the delivery of sensitization campaigns to ensure beneficiaries make effective use of the cash support provided by accessing agricultural inputs and material to sustain agricultural production. Activities will be implemented from 1 May to 31 December 2024.

Overall, these activities will support a total of 13 500 people to meet their basic food needs, protect their productive assets (livestock) and have their agricultural production restored against the impacts of El Niño-induced dry spells.