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Malawi

Malawi is a landlocked southern African country with a population of more than 18 million people. Malawi’s agricultural sector contributes 37% to the GDP and 85% to export revenues. The sector is characterized by two partial structures: on the one hand, there are about two million small farmer operations which generate about 80% of Malawi’s food production, and on the other hand, the large tobacco, sugar and tea plantations generate over 80% of the agricultural exports. Some of the key supply chains include maize, tobacco, sugar, soybeans, peanut, cassava, tea, potatoes and sunflower. The production of tobacco has decreased dramatically due to the reduced demand. Thus, the national export strategy has seen a shift to diversify revenues through other cash crops (e.g. chickpeas) and value-adding activities (e.g. processing). The national diet is heavily reliant on maize predominantly, and potato and cassava to a lesser extent. Child stunting, which affects 40% of children, represents a significant challenge in Malawi. Meanwhile, obesity and overweight rates have almost doubled in women of reproductive age. This points to a nation-wide micronutrient deficiency.

Read the full country dossier here, see our Malawi farmer innovation contest page here, and read the country innovation study on the status of agricultural innovations, innovation platforms and innovation investments in Malawi here.

Agricultural Typology of Malawi:

Source: Maruyama et al. (2018)

 

Malawi on

Publications

The complementarity of education and use of productive inputs among smallholder farmers in Africa

Mechanization in African Agriculture: A Continental Overview on Patterns and Dynamics

Differential Impacts of Conservation Agriculture Technology Options on Household Income in Sub-Saharan Africa

Yield effects of selected agronomic innovation packages in maize cropping systems of six countries in Sub-Saharan Africa

PARI Policy Brief No. 9: Innovation for Sustainable Agricultural Growth in Africa – Insights from Research Dossiers on 12 PARI Partner Countries

Recognizing and rewarding farmers’ creativity through contests: experiences and insights from four African countries

Innovation for Sustainable Agricultural Growth – 12 Country Dossiers

Change in crop management strategies could double the maize yield in Africa

PARI Poster: Recognizing Farmer Innovators in Africa

The ReSAKSS Country eAtlases

2017

The ReSAKSS Country eAtlases is a GIS-based mapping tool designed to help policy analysts and policymakers access and use high quality and highly disaggregated data on agricultural, socio-economic, and bio-physical indicators to guide agricultural policy and investment decisions.

Country Innovation Studies

2016 | Prepared by the PARI national partners and FARA

The Innovation Studies for the 12 African PARI countries provide an overview of the status of agricultural innovations, innovation platforms and innovation investment in the respective country. Read more Country Innovation Studies

Farm production, market access and dietary diversity in Malawi

On the use of agricultural system models for exploring technological innovations across scales in Africa: A critical review

2016 | R.P. Rötter | F.L. Sehomi | J.G. Höhn | J.K. Niemi | M. van den Berg

Published as: ZEF – Discussion Papers on Development Policy No. 23, Center for Development Research, Bonn.

Download full paper

Download literature database

Progress report on Agricultural Typologies Work

2016 | M. Torero | E. Maruyama

Download progress report

PARI Policy Brief No. 1: Strategic Directions for Development Collaboration for Food Security and Agricultural Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa

Tapping Potentials of Innovation for Food Security and Sustainable Agricultural Growth – an Africa-wide Perspective

Report on Potentials and Cooperation Opportunities in African Countries

Potentials and Possibilities for German Collaboration in Agriculture – 12 Country Dossiers

Regional trade and volatility in staple food markets in Africa