The 2002 Malawi Famine 7-1 Erica Phillips
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The 2002 Malawi Famine 7-1 Erica Phillips CASE STUDY #7-1 OF THE PROGRAM: "FOOD POLICY FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT IN THE GLOBAL FOOD SYSTEM" 2007 Ed ited by: Per Pinstrup-Andersen ([email protected]) and Fuzhi Cheng Cornell University In collaboration with: Soren E. Frandsen, FOI, University of Copenhagen Arie Kuyvenhoven, Wageningen University Joachim von Braun, International Food Policy Research Institute Executive Summary Famine has been described as "a catastrophic dis famine while meeting longer-term development ruption of the social, economic, and institutional needs—an effort that is necessary to prevent systems that provide for food production, distribu future famines and decrease poverty. It also tion, and consumption" [von Braun et al. 1998], explores how food availability and access can be Famines have occurred in every part of the world assured for remote regions and the poorest citizens throughout history, and the 21st century is no ex and considers whether government interventions ception. Millions of people, mainly in Africa, still or free markets offer the best approach to achiev suffer food shortages and occasionally face famine. ing short- and long-term national food sovereignty Famine can occur not only when insufficient food and household food security. is available, but also when people do not have ade quate "entitlements" to access food [Sen 1981). Your assignment is to assess the effectiveness of the actions taken by the government of Malawi in From its independence in 1964 through the 1980s, 2 0 0 2 , identify policy failures and successes, and Malawi was a self-sufficient producer of maize in suggest actions and policy measures that should be nondrought years [Oygard et al. 2003). Since 2001, put in place by the government, food aid donors, however, Malawi has depended on commercial im and the private sector to effectively prevent future ports and food aid to meet its national needs. famines while striving for long-term national food Although the 1991/1992 harvest was half the size of sovereignty and household food security.1 the 2000/2001 maize harvest, no food crisis oc curred in 1992. To understand what caused changes Background in national food sovereignty and household food security between 1991 and 2001 and the events of the 2 0 0 2 famine in Malawi, this case study reviews Between 2001 and 2 0 0 6 , six countries in Southern the decisions, events, and policies before, during, Africa— Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, and after the 2 0 0 2 famine from four angles: availa Zambia, and Zimbabwe— each contended with food bility of food, access to food, underlying poverty, shortages. In 2002 food shortage led to famine in and political and institutional issues. Malawi, its worst disaster since the Nyasaland famine of 1949 [Devereux 2002). Malawi was the The availability of food was affected by flooding, only country out of the six to report deaths transportation bottlenecks, the sale of the govern caused by hunger. ment's reserve grains in 2001, and poor crop esti mates. Access to food was restricted for some Malawi is a landlocked country of about 12 million because grain did not reach the most rural areas, people in Southern Africa. It borders Zambia, and prices soared, making white maize, the staple Tanzania, and Mozambique and is almost the size of food, too expensive for many to buy. Underlying Pennsylvania [CIA 2006). The population grows at poverty was also a factor: 65 percent of Malawians 2 percent annually, average life expectancy is 41 live below the poverty line, HIV/AIDS levels are years and declining, and the infant mortality rate is climbing, and purchasing power dropped in the 103 deaths per 1,000 live births. The literacy rate is 1990s, making many people more vulnerable to 62.7 percent, and 65 percent of Malawians live production shocks and overcoming their coping below the poverty line [Oygard et al. 2003). strategies. Finally, political and institutional issues, HIV/AIDS, with a prevalence of 14.2 percent such as liberalization of the grain parastatal, the among the adult population, is the cause of absence of safety nets, and strained relations between the government of Malawi and donors, 'National food sovereignty exists when a country has the contributed to the famine. means to acquire enough food, whether from national production or imports, to achieve household food This case study evaluates the best strategies to pur security. Household food security "exists when all people sue national food sovereignty and household food o f a household, at all times, have access to sufficient, safe security and analyzes policies that can prevent and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life" [FAO 2007). declining life expectancy. Per capita gross domestic Events of the Famine product [GDP] is U S$600, and overall GDP is In his 1981 essay "Poverty and Famines: An Essay on US$7,692 billion. Although real per capita GDP Entitlement and Deprivation," Nobel prize-winning rose throughout the 1990s, the level of poverty economist Amartya Sen redefined famine as a lack increased [Oygard et al. 2003], of "entitlements," not necessarily a lack of food. In his entitlement theory, Sen explains that a person Malawi is generally divided into three regions'— can starve not only when he or she cannot produce northern, central, and southern. The northern enough food, but also when he or she does not region consists of highlands and is less populated have the means to exchange labor, money, or other than the southern region, which contains the coun goods for food, or when he or she faces a combi try's highest population density [Malawi National nation of these circumstances [Sen 1981], With this Vulnerability Assessment Committee 2005]. The theory in mind, this case study considers the 2 0 0 2 central region, which contains the capital, Lilongwe, Malawi famine from four angles— availability of has a mix of rural and urban residents and contains food, access to food, underlying poverty, and most of the country's poor [Sahley et al. 2005]. political and institutional issues. The flooding and the famine deaths both occurred in the south and central regions. Availability of Food Agriculture is the foundation of employment and Malawi experienced good harvests in 1998/1999 and the economy. More than one-third of GDP comes 1999/2000, but the 2000/2001 maize harvest was from agriculture, and an additional one-fifth of 8 percent below the 10-year average [Figure l].2 The GDP is related to distribution and retailing of agri four main factors that led to reduced food availa cultural products. Eighty-five percent of the popu bility for some Malawian populations in 2 0 0 2 were lation lives in rural areas, and 75 percent of the poor maize production in 2000/2001, transport population relies on agriculture for their livelihoods bottlenecks for imported food, poor estimates of [Oygard et al. 2003], Landholding is split between alternative food levels, and reduced maize levels in smallholders, who typically own 0.23 hectare, and the Strategic Grain Reserve [SGR], large estate owners who grow tea, cotton, sugar, and burley tobacco for export. Agricultural Poor Maize Production. From independence in 1964 exports account for 90 percent of foreign through the 1980s, Malawi was a self-sufficient exchange earnings [Oygard et al. 2003], producer of maize in nondrought years [Oygard et al. 2003], In the 1990s, however, maize yields fell Although the maJority of citizens grow and con owing to declining soil fertility. Maize is grown on sume white maize almost exclusively, most rural the same fields year after year with minimal organic Malawian households are net purchasers of maize or inorganic fertilizer, which causes soils to be [Sahley et al. 2005], About one-third of the popu stripped of their nutrients and, eventually, lation is perpetually unable to produce enough degraded. In February 2001 13 out of Malawi's 27 food to feed their families for a year and must seek districts experienced serious flooding, which was other sources of income to purchase food. Seventy also a factor in the decrease in production [Oygard percent of the average Malawian's diet consists of et al. 2003], white maize [FAO 2006]. Farmers produce one rainfed crop of maize a year. Planting takes place in Another factor leading to poor maize production November/December, and crops are harvested the was the fact that farmers reduced the amount of following April/May. The months before the har inputs they used because of lack of access to vest are called the "lean season" because this is credit, liberalization of the input market, and when households run out of the previous year's reduction of government subsidies on fertilizers grain and need to purchase grain on the market. and seeds. A program called the Starter Pack Pro This season is also when maize prices typically peak gram [later called the Targeted Inputs Program or because the previous year's stocks are running low and less maize is being sold on the market. 2 Agricultural years are typically written as "1998/1999," because the planting season begins in the third quarter o f the first year, but the crop is not harvested until the second quarter of the following year. Figure 1: Malawi Maize Production> 1 9 9 5 -2 0 0 5 3000000 2500000 g 2000000 o o 1500000 Je 1000000 500000 0 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Year Source: FA O 2006. TIP] was initiated in 1998/1999, with distribution to South African-Zimbabwe border disturbed train 2.8 million households.