According to Neno District Relief and Rehabilitation officer Brighton Mphinga, 3,500 out of the 6,800 food insecure households have received their October Lean Season relief maize.

Brighton Mphinga has told Zodiak Online today (Saturday) morning, that they have prioritised hard to reach areas of Dambe during this rain season because the people there have logistical challenges during the rainy season.

"We commend the government for the items as they have also helped to reduce maize prices on the market. Now a 20 litre pail of maize is fetching at K15 thousand kwacha down from 17 to 18 thousand kwacha, all because these people have food and vendors can no longer take advantage of them," said Mphinga.

In the afternoon, the exercise was also taken to Ligowe trade centre where beneficiaries from Senior Chief Mlauli converged to take their 50 kilograms bag of maize courtesy of the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA).

One of the beneficiaries, Village Headman Kapachira under Group Village Headman Chimbalanga says the items have come as an early Christmas present adding that he was wondering of where to get food for the days to come.

He told Zodiak Online that " we are happy to receive this maize. We have hunger in my village and am appealing to the government to continue this until we harvest".

Village Headman Kapachira further smiled to the items while asking other beneficiaries not to "sale" the items but rather use them as food.

31 thousand people in Neno were listed as food insecure by the Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee (MVAC) report.