The department’s director of disaster and relief Moses Chimphepo said this in Lilongwe today after the signing ceremony of a 4.2-billion-kwacha agreement between the Norwegian government and the World Food Programme, for assistance towards the vulnerable households.

WFP country director Marco Cavalcante has said that it is imperative to timely and effectively plan to deal with impending disasters such as hunger, especially now that the lean period has been compounded by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee projected that 2.6 million vulnerable households will be hunger-stricken this year.

According to Dodma’s director of disaster and relief Moses Chimphepo says that the country has a deficit of 34.5 billion kwacha, which is meant to feed almost 500 thousand people.

Chimphepo says that this calls for a joint approach to solve the hunger situation.

And the Norweigian ambassador Steinar Egil Hagen says that his embassy will closely monitor progress of the program to ensure accountability, from which Norway will draw lessons for further assistance.

"Malawi as the rest of the world is facing increased vulnerability resulting from the effects of covid19 including economic and food security challenges.

"The recent slowdown of economic activity has resulted in reduced labour mobility and affected those who depend on a day to day income."

193,658 households will benefit from the program, and the assistance includes pulses, maize, and cooking oil amounting to 23,100 kwacha from November.