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It is traditionally eaten as a snack, but the coronavirus pandemic has made it a plate of resistance: the mice in Malawi they have become an essential ingredient in the diet of the poorest population, threatened by hunger.
Along the 320 kilometers of road that separate Blantyre and Lilongwe, the two main cities of the country, dozens of vendors offer travelers rodent meat skewers.
Halfway through the Ntcheu (center) district, Bernard Simeon has become one of these casual chefs.
“We hunt the mouse to live. We use it as a supplement to our daily diet and we sell it to travelers to earn income “explains the farmer. “It was already difficult before the coronavirus, now it has become much more difficult.”
Nestled in southern Africa, Malawi is considered one of the most disadvantaged countries on the planet. More than half of its nearly 18 million inhabitants survive below the poverty line.
As in the rest of the continent, the sanitary measures adopted to stop the spread of covid-19 – more than 5,400 cases and about 170 officially dead, according to the latest balance – had a hard effect on its economy, largely informal and rural, as well as its population.
The World Bank anticipates a 3.5% drop in its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2020.
A local employer organization (ECAM) documented that an average of 1,500 jobs were destroyed per day and estimates that this accumulated figure could reach 680,000 by the end of the year.
The government of the former president Peter mutharika, which lost in the May elections, had promised an urgent aid program for the poorest that never saw the light. Her successor, Lazarus Chakwera, is still working on her own relief plan.
Meanwhile, the health and economic crisis increased the food insecurity of many Malawians, forced to manage to satisfy hunger.
Roast on skewers
“Normally, we have my husband and his work,” confesses Bernard Simeon’s wife, Yankho Chalera. “But when times are tough, we have mice because we can no longer afford meat.”
Roasted on a skewer and salted, mice are traditionally eaten between meals in towns in the center of the country.
“When I was a child, we were taught to hunt mice from the age of three,” recalls former MP and successful musician Lucius Banda. “In the town, this activity is not considered as an obligation but as entertainment, both for boys and girls.”
The most popular variety in the area is gray, short-tailed, and known among gastronomy lovers by the name of “Cap”.
“I’m still eating [ratones], more as a memory of my childhood than anything else ”, says Luciius Banda.
For a few months, health authorities have recommended the consumption of mice, an alternative to meat that has become inaccessible. “It is a valuable source of protein”, says Sylvester Kathumba, chief nutritionist of the Ministry of Health.
And how the epidemic affects especially “To people with low immune resistance, we recommend a rich diet”, advocates Francis Nthalika, in charge of feeding at the Balaka district health unit.
This renewed interest in small rodents, which are fed seeds, fruits or herbs, instead raises concern among defenders of the environment because of the methods used to hunt them.
To get mice out of their burrows, hunters use burning thickets, allowing them to locate their dens.
“By doing that, the hunters destroy the ecosystem”Duncan Maphwesesa, director of a Balaka district NGO, Azitona Development Services, complains.
“We understand that these poor people need to live,” he continues, “but they do not realize that they have an impact on the environment and that they are thus participating in global warming …”, he concludes.
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