Brothers of the Immaculate Conception. (Brothers FIC- Malawi)

Dear Brothers and Friends.
I present you newsletter of Malawi Province for the last three months.

10 April 2016

1. Situation in Malawi
This time is a harvest time. However due to unfavorable rainfall, the harvest is not that satisfactory. According to the report, rainy season this year is less than last year and rainy season of last year was less than previous years. As such although this time is a harvesting time, the food situation in the country is below expectation. Following the prolonged drought during the 2015/16 agriculture season, President Peter Mutharika has declared Malawi a State of National Disaster on April 13, 2016.

Due to poor rain this season, there is an expected 12.4 percent drop in Maize production in 2015/16 harvesting season
“ Agricultural Production Estimates Survey which the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Water Development undertook between mid- February and March this year, estimates maize production for the season at 2, 431, 313 metric tonne, representing 12.4 percent decline in production as compared to the 2014/2015 final round estimate of 2, 776, 277MT.

The harvest of last year was poor due to flood that affected 1,1 million people in 15 districts of the 28 districts. Close to 64,000 hectares of crop fields throughout the country were destroyed. The situation heavily contributed to Maize output drops of about 30 percent.