09/09/2026
Private sector urged to support El Niño preparedness
Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development Honorable Roza Fatch Mbilizi today attended a private sector engagement meeting on El Niño preparedness held at the Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC) in Lilongwe, as Government intensified efforts to mobilise support and strengthen national preparedness ahead of the anticipated 2026/27 El Niño conditions.
Chairperson of the Cabinet Ad hoc Committee on El Niño who is also Chief Secretary to the Government, Dr Justin Saidi, said Malawi must move from preparedness planning to concrete action, emphasising that the country cannot control climate conditions but can control how prepared it is to respond to their impacts.
Saidi said Government, in collaboration with development and humanitarian partners, civil society, academia and other stakeholders, had developed the 2026/27 El Niño Preparedness Plan as a framework for coordinated action to protect lives, livelihoods and development gains.
He said the plan was informed by lessons from previous climate shocks whose effects cut across agriculture, food security, water, health, education, infrastructure, energy and social protection.
Dr Saidi said the engagement with the private sector was aimed at examining priority interventions under the plan and identifying resources and capacities needed for implementation describing the private sector as a critical partner in building national resilience and called on businesses to contribute expertise, resources, infrastructure and other capacities towards preparedness efforts.
According to Saidi, the total requirement for implementing priority interventions across sectors stands at about K483.5 billion, equivalent to approximately US$281.7 million. Of this amount, K163.7 billion, or about US$94.4 million, has already been mobilised through Government, humanitarian and non-governmental organisation interventions, leaving a financing gap of K324.8 billion, approximately US$187.3 million.
Saidi said Government had already activated early action measures following updated meteorological forecasts, while partners had begun implementing anticipatory interventions aimed at protecting livelihoods and strengthening community resilience.
He urged the private sector and other partners to increase their support, saying investments in disaster preparedness help save lives, protect livelihoods and reduce the financial burden associated with responding to disasters.
Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI) Chief Executive Officer Ronald Ngwira said the anticipated El Niño posed a significant economic and business continuity risk to Malawi because of the country's dependence on agriculture.
He said disruptions in agricultural production could lead to food price increases, reduced household incomes, increased imports and pressure on foreign exchange, while also affecting electricity generation, water availability, manufacturing and supply chains.
Ngwira said the scale of the preparedness requirements meant Government and development partners could not shoulder the burden alone, hence the need for a structured Government-private sector partnership. He said businesses could contribute beyond financial resources through food production and distribution, warehousing, transport and logistics, water and sanitation interventions, renewable energy, digital early warning systems, climate-smart agriculture and financial services.
He said MCCCI was ready to work with Government and other stakeholders to strengthen private sector participation in preparedness and resilience-building efforts.
Ngwira called for stronger public-private coordination, improved access to timely information and an enabling environment that would encourage businesses to invest in climate resilience, saying the response to El Niño should not only focus on surviving the 2026/27 season but also on building a stronger and more resilient Malawian economy.
