Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace, CCJP Diocesan Secretary for Chikwawa Lewis Msiyadungu and Centre for Social concern officer Tobias Jere told Zodiak on Thursday that the monthly income that people are getting is not matching with their needs thereby forcing others to commit various crimes for survival.

"We think government and non-state actors have to put in place sustainable measures to economically empower the citizens in the country," said Msiyadungu.

Msiyadungu thinks such hard situations are forcing people to indulge themselves in corruption and other nasty activities for survival.

"Corruption is all over because people are taking it as coping mechanism for survival. More needs to be done to make sure that people have adequate resources," said he.

Jere from Centre for Social Concern is of the view that provision of soft loans to rural women and the youth can help to make people food secure and achieve economic empowerment.

"We are worried that district like Chikwawa, Machinga and part of Dedza, communities struggle to get food," explained Jere.

This comes as most households in Chikwawa and Nsanje are currently facing hunger with no alternatives for survival.