A study by the US-based Michigan State University (MSU) points to a serious hunger problem in Malawi in early 2009; the government has maintained that it has enough maize.
Prices for the staple food are at record levels: a 50kg bag, which would feed a family of four for a month and a half, costs at least US$32, "which is unaffordable in a country where the average income of an individual is about $160 for the year," said Rafiq Hajat, executive director of the Institute for Policy Interaction (IPI), a think-tank based in the commercial capital, Blantyre.