Malawi'’s agricultural sector is critical to its economy, employing around 77% of the population and accounting for 23% of gross domestic product (GDP). The majority of workers in agriculture are smallholder farmers, many of whom cultivate less than one hectare of land. Despite its importance, the sector faces significant challenges, …
Malawi’s many smallholders rely heavily on rainfed, low-input subsistence farming to meet their food needs. Yet for most rural Malawian households, subsistence agriculture cannot consistently produce enough food to ward off hunger. Nor can they rely on the country’s weak markets to buy additional food they may require or to …
This report provides an update on the short-term impacts of COVID-19 on the Malawian economy in light of the sharp increase in COVID-19 cases in December 2020 and January 2021. It extends and updates the results of previous SAM multiplier-based modeling undertaken by IFPRI during 2020 with a particular focus …
The paper provides evidence on the evolving socioeconomic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic among households in Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, and Uganda. The data allow estimating the immediate economic impacts of the pandemic, beginning in April 2020, and tracking how the situation evolved through September 2020. Although households have started to …
Inclusive agricultural value chains (VCs) are potential drivers for poverty reduction, food security, and women’s empowerment. This report assesses the implementation of the Agricultural Technical and Vocational Education Training for Women Program (ATVET4Women) that aims to support women with vocational training and market linkages in priority agricultural value chains. This …
The brief leverages COVID-19 high frequency phone survey (HFPS) data collected primarily by National Statistics Offices (NSO) 2 of five SSA countries (Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, and Uganda), with support from the World Bank’s Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS) and the Poverty and Equity Global Practice teams. These five …
The pandemic has induced a sharp recession in many countries across the globe. The COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic has caused an unprecedented shock to the global economy and led to an expected overall contraction of 4.4 percent in 2020. Advanced economies are projected to shrink by 5.8 percent and emerging and …
Producers trading in informal agricultural markets in low- and middle-income countries make daily choices concerning their livelihood and marketing strategies. Different contexts present varying degrees of market power and knowledge asymmetries across value chains and trading relations. In general, however, producers face the greatest risks and downstream players reap the …
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the attempts to limit its spread have resulted in profound economic impacts, and a significant contraction in the global economy is expected. This paper provides some of the first evidence on the socioeconomic impacts of and responses to the pandemic among households and individuals …
This paper has been written for the 2020 ECAMA Lakeshore Conference. It extends and updates the initial results of modeling undertaken by IFPRI to assess the short-run impacts of COVID-19 control measures on the Malawian economy. Also consider the short-run effects of external shocks associated with disruptions in trade and …
Severe weather shocks recurrently hit Malawi, and they adversely affect the incomes of many farm households as well as small businesses. With climate change, the frequency of extreme weather events is expected to increase further. A clear understanding of households’ vulnerability to shock-induced poverty is critical for disaster risk management …
There are still 2.8 billion people worldwide who lack access to clean cooking solutions, a figure that has remained stubbornly high. This persistent gap shows that despite huge efforts, cookstove initiatives have largely failed to reach scale. Among other issues, access to affordable finance is still an immense barrier. Of …
The Rural Livelihoods and Economic Empowerment Programme (RLEEP) has laid a good foundation for pro-poor value chain development. Small-scale farmers have increased their awareness that farming is a business. A number of useful partnerships were built and promising initiatives started. This includes the Farm Radio Trust, which was highly effective …
The Coronavirus crisis could result in a catastrophic loss of life in poorer countries and push half a billion more people into poverty. Countries like the Central African Republic have just three ventilators for almost five million people, and Malawi has only a quarter of the nurses needed to provide …
The Free to Shine campaign1 is an initiative of the African Union, the Organization of African First Ladies for Development (OAFLAD) and partners to address the growing complacency in the response to childhood HIV in Africa. The campaign aims to leverage the unique engagement and advocacy of first ladies in …
Foundational to the monitoring of international goals on land ownership and rights are the household survey respondents who provide the required individual-disaggregated data. Leveraging two national surveys in Malawi that differed in their approach to respondent selection, this study shows that, compared with the international best practice of privately interviewing …
With Malawi’s economic growth recovering and single digit inflation, the Government has a key opportunity to rein in fiscal deficits and reduce domestic debt. If it can better control domestic debt levels, the Government could increasingly move towards creating the conditions for the private sector to increase investment, which can …
Ending extreme hunger requires the interaction of both household and community level infrastructural investments. When communities and households are capital infrastructure constrained, the effects of extreme events such as droughts can fetter consumption growth and food security. This paper, assesses the impact of seasonal weather shocks on food security conditional …
Ending extreme hunger requires the interaction of both household and community level infrastructural investments. When communities and households are capital infrastructure constrained, the effects of extreme events such as droughts can fetter consumption growth and food security. This paper, assesses the impact of seasonal weather shocks on food security conditional …
The main objective of the MVAC assessment is to answer key questions on the status of food and nutrition security in a given consumption year. Key questions about who is affected; why are they affected; where are the affected; how much food and non food needs and for how long. …
UMFULA has addressed questions of climate science, climate impacts and decision-making processes for adaptation, including: How does the climate of central and southern Africa work? And how well do climate models represent the key processes responsible for climate? How might the climate of central and southern Africa change in future …
