LILONGWE (Malawi) • A popular snack when food is bountiful, mice have become a vital source of protein in Malawi since the coronavirus pandemic aggravated food shortages and economic hardship.
Vendors waving long skewers of roasted field mice typically stand along Malawi's main highway, targeting motorists travelling between the two largest cities, Blantyre and Lilongwe.
Seasoned and cooked to a crisp, mice are also sold at street stalls and markets across the south-east African country.
But these salty roadside bites also come in handy when times get tough.
Malnutrition and food insecurity are perennial issues in the small, landlocked nation, where more than half of the population live below the poverty line.
The pandemic, which has infected nearly 5,500 people and killed more than 170, has only exacerbated food shortages as many livelihoods have been curtailed by confinement measures.
For mice hunter Bernard Simeon, from Malawi's central Ntcheu district, the pandemic has brought new complexities to his poverty-stricken life. "We were already struggling before the coronavirus," he said shortly after preparing his daily mice catch. "But now because of the disease, things have really gone bad."
The 38-year-old is primarily a farmer, but he also hunts and hawks mice to supplement his livelihood. His wife Yankho Chalera and their child depend on his earnings.
"When times are hard, we rely on mice to supplement our diet because we cannot afford to buy meat," said Ms Chalera, washing dishes after lunch.
Environmentalists, however, have voiced concern about damage caused by mouse-hunting methods as demand increases.
The rodents are typically found in corn fields, where they grow plump on grains, fruit, grass and the odd insect. After crops are harvested, hunters burn bushes to identify mice holes so they can trap them.
"In so doing, they destroy a lot of the ecosystem within the bush," said Mr Duncan Maphwesesa, director of the environmental rights group Azitona Development Services.
"Much as Read More – Source
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