ASSESSING FOOD AID DEPENDENCY IMPACT ON FOOD SECURITY IN MALAWI: THE CASE OFTRADITIONAL AUTHORITY NKAYA IN BALAKA

Malawi experiences food shortages across its districts mostly those in the southern region. Government and non-governmental organizations have been distributing aid in terms of food and cash to alleviate the negative effects of food insecurity. Studies show that floods, dry spells, high cost of staple food and, infection of fall armyworms are some of the causes of food insecurity. Research also shows that food aid has aggravated dependency syndrome on victims which has negatively impacted food security. The assessment mainly is centered on assessing factors that have caused food aid dependency negative impacts on food security in TA Nkaya in Balaka by investigating household capacity regarding food security and governmental and non-governmental organizations’ approaches in the management of food security. The assessment reveals that food aid beneficiaries’ food security is frustrated by the low capacity of households. Low education levels, low employment rate, lack of diversity in food and income sources, and reliance on rain-fed agriculture have reduced the capacity of households regarding food security. Various approaches to solve food insecurity by the government and non-governmental organizations are engaged. These are the food production approach, food nutrition approach and resilience-building approach and the activities involve are food item distribution, cash transfers, farm inputs distribution through subsidies, increasing potable water infrastructures, and tree planting programs. However, the approaches found to miss root causes of food insecurity have led to dependency syndrome on aid by food shortage victims which have greatly impacted food security negatively through several factors. Analysis of the results shows that gender issues are not taken onboard into the approaches as food insecurity affects female and child-headed households more than those headed by men. Lack of community participatory needs assessment, poor governance on food aid and disaster risks, lack of awareness on the purpose of food aid to beneficiaries, and wrong targeting of food aid beneficiaries are other factors that have contributed to food aid dependency negative impact on food security. In addition to that diversification of incomegenerating projects and food production is underrated.
The factors for food aid dependency impacts on food security indicate that there is more that needs to be done based on the sustainable development goal (SDG) of ending hunger by promoting food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable
agriculture. On the same, the SFDRR 2015-2030 enhances disaster preparedness for effective response and to “Build Back Better” in recovery, rehabilitation, and reconstruction. The MGDS III also acknowledges that Malawi continues to face food insecurity and constraints have made Malawi dependant on food aid. Therefore, the research recommends the following remedies that need to be focused on to reduce food aid dependence to ensure food security.
• Gender mainstreaming into food security programs should be enhanced.
• There is a need to promote awareness and sensitization of the purpose of food
aid to beneficiaries so that the whole objective of food aid is achieved.
• The targeting method of food aid beneficiaries should take on board VCPCs
suggestions to include the need aid households.
• Comprehensive participatory need assessment should be prioritized.
• Good governance for food security should be enhanced at all levels.
• Encourage farm animal rearing to increase assets as capacity, and encourage
small-scale businesses for income generation.