Several countries, including Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, are already building up emergency grain reserves.

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An estimated one-fifth of the food produced in India, including one-tenth of grain reserves, is wasted.

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Apart from employment schemes, an affected country needs grain reserves, rural roads, and the ability to spot distress and move grain quickly.

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Malawi's government is notoriously corrupt: last year it chose to sell 167, 000 tons of its emergency grain reserves, and the proceeds seem to have disappeared.

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Governments fail to build up proper grain reserves.

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For a start, the harvest did bring in 40m tons of grain, and the government (it says) has another 20m in its reserves.

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