Climate variability, adaptation strategies and food security in Malawi
TheFAO has released a publication that assesses incentives and conditioning factors relating to adaptation strategies and their impact on crop productivity in Malawi. The study finds that there is no single strategy for adaptation, which is driven by a number of structural and capacity-related variables. The working paper, titled 'Climate Variability, Adaptation Strategies and Food Security in Malawi,' published under the FAO's Economics and Policy Innovations for Climate-Smart Agriculture (EPIC) programme, analyzes household-level data collected in 2011 from nationally representative sample households. Among its key results, the study finds that distinct factors drive farming practice selection, including climactic variables, access to rural institutions and social capital. It concludes that: no single strategy exists for supporting adaptation; adoption of practices is conditioned by that of others; and some practices are complementary while others function as substitutes.