Malawi: Emergency Agriculture and Food Security Surveillance System (EmA-FSS) Bulletin, Issue 25: 1–15 May 2021
KEY HIGHLIGHTS:
The proportion of households relying on food purchase dropped by 8.4 percentage points from 22.8 percent in the second half of April 2021 to 14.4 percent. The proportion of households relying on own food production as a main source of food increased by 8.3 percentage points from 76.0 percent to 84.3 percent in the same period. The northern region recorded the highest drop in the proportion of households relying on purchase as the main source of food, dropping by 25.2 percentage points from 35.8 percent in the second half of April to 10.6 percent.
In households owning any type of livestock, the proportion of households reporting suspected livestock diseases increased by 1.9 percentage points from 15.6 percent in the second half of April 2021 to 17.5 percent. The northern region continued to record the highest proportion of households reporting livestock diseases (20.0 percent up from 19.1 percent).
The proportion of households involved in fishing related livelihoods activities dropped by 0.3 percentage points from 2.5 percent in the second half of April 2021 to 2.2 percent. The northern region recorded the highest drop in the proportion of households involved in fishing related activities, dropping by 3.4 percentage points from 4.1 percent to 0.7 percent. Proportion of households that reported some suspected fish diseases among those involved in fishing related activities dropped by 10.2 percentage points from 16.4 percent to 6.2 percent with the northern region having no households that reported suspected fish diseases.
The average price of maize per kg remained at MK133.29 slightly increasing from M133.03 in the second half of April 2021. The northern region recorded the highest maize prices per kg estimated at MK142.00 down from MK151.0/kg, dropping by 6.0 percent. The average crop prices per kg for selected crops were MK673.40 down from MK738.38 for rice, MK806.65 down from MK872.18 for beans, MK714.19 down from MK789.23 for ground nuts, MK504.97 down from MK515.48 for Irish potatoes, and MK325.59 down from MK332.44 for sweet potatoes compared to the second half of April 2021.