ReliefWeb

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

• In the month of December 2020, the proportion of households relying on food purchase as the main source of food increased by 4.9 from 66.2 percent in November 2020 to 71.1 percent in December. The southern region continues to record the highest proportion of households relying on food purchase as the main source of food and increased by 2.3 percent between November and December.

• Nearly 20.0 percent of the households that owned livestock reported some suspected livestock diseases slightly down from 20.1 percent in November, representing a 0.1 percent drop. Newcastle disease continues to be the most common livestock disease reported by 76.2 percent of the households that reported livestock diseases up from 75.8 percent in November 2020, increasing by 0.4 percent.

• Nearly 2.3 percent of the households were involved in fishing related activities, slightly increasing by 0.1 percent from 2.2 percent in November 2020. The northern region recorded the highest proportion of households involved in fishing related activities estimated at 3.0 percent down from 3.1 percent in November. About 25.7 percent of the households involved in fishing activities reported some suspected fish diseases up from 20.3 percent in November. Karonga, Nkhata Bay, Mchinji, Kasungu, Nkhotakota, Salima Mangochi, Mulanje and Chikwawa districts reported suspected fish diseases.

• In December 2020, the price of maize per Kilogram recorded a 1.9 percent increase from MK191.16 in November to MK194.73 in December. In comparison with results from IFPRI, the maize prices are lower than the IFPRI maize price which recorded a retail price of MK199/kg in the month of December 2020. The southern region continues to record high maize prices per Kg estimated at MK200.96 in December down from MK212.68 in November 2020, dropping by 5.5 percent.