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A popular snack when food is plentiful, mice have become a vital source of protein in Malawi since the coronavirus outbreak exacerbated food shortages and economic difficulties.
Vendors waving long skewers of roasted field mice are often along Malawi’s main highway, targeting motorists traveling between the two largest cities, Blantyre and Lilongwe.
The mice, seasoned and cooked to a crisp, are also sold in street stalls and markets throughout the Southeast African country.
But these salty roadside bites are also useful when times get tough.
Malnutrition and food insecurity are perennial problems in the small landlocked nation, where more than half of the population lives below the poverty line.
The coronavirus, which has infected nearly 5,500 people and killed more than 170, has only exacerbated food shortages, as many livelihoods have been constrained by lockdown measures.
For mouse hunter Bernard Simeon of Malawi’s central Ntcheu district, the pandemic has brought new complexities to his poverty-stricken life.
“We were already fighting before the coronavirus,” he told AFP shortly after preparing his daily capture of mice.
“But now, because of the illness, things have really gone wrong.”
The 38-year-old is primarily a farmer, but he also hunts and sells mice to supplement his livelihood. His wife Yankho Chalera and their son depend on his earnings.
“When times are tough, we rely on mice to supplement our diet because we can’t afford to buy meat,” Chalera said, washing dishes after lunch.
The government of Malawi has promised a monthly stipend of $ 50 (approximately R830) for people who lost income due to anti-coronavirus regulations restricting movement and business.
The plan was supposed to start in June, but last week the government said that the implementation logistics were still being finalized.
Meanwhile, health officials have urged poorer communities in some rural villages to supplement their diets with free and naturally available resources.
Mice are “one of the sources of protein,” said Sylvester Kathumba, chief nutritionist at the Ministry of Health.
“We have been promoting the diet of all food groups, especially in this time of coronavirus that strikes people with low immunity,” said Francis Nthalika, nutrition coordinator at a government health office in Balaka district.
The area, hidden away in the southern region of Malawi, is widely associated with hunting mice.
However, environmentalists have raised concerns about the damage caused by hunting methods as demand increases.
Rodents are typically found in cornfields, where they grow fat on grains, fruits, grass, and the odd insects.
After the crops are harvested, hunters burn bushes to identify holes for mice so they can trap them.
“In doing so, they destroy much of the ecosystem within the bush,” said Duncan Maphwesesa, director of the Balaka-based environmental rights group Azitona Development Services.
“As much as we appreciate that they have to maintain a livelihood due to poverty, the issue of forest fires is long-term destruction,” he said.
“They don’t see that they are affecting the environment and that they are an integral part of those who are causing climate change.”
But tradition is hard to break.
50-year-old musician Lucius Banda recalls the mouse-hunting adventures of his youth in rural Balaka.
“As a village boy, you learn to hunt mice from the age of three,” Banda, a former parliamentarian for the district, said twice.
“And in the village, this is not seen as a chore, but more as a form of entertainment enjoyed by both boys and girls.”
Banda added that children in his village were fed mice as a gift before they even tasted the meat.
“Until now I continue to eat mice, but more as a sentimental act than anything else,” he said.
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