Carter Center Global Health Efforts - Malawi

Activities By Country

Fighting Disease: Malawi

Increasing Food Production

The Carter Center began working in partnership with the Malawian Ministry of Agriculture to improve food security in 1999. Huge swings in Malawi's maize prices have been a major disincentive for farmers to invest in maize production, the country's staple food crop. The African food crisis in 2002, worsened by the drought that hit southern Africa, was partly to blame for this price fluctuation, and price swings have continued.

Maize accounts for half of the national cropping area in Malawi, the largest per capita producer of maize in the world. However, unstable market conditions already have driven large-scale farmers, who previously accounted for 25 percent of maize production, to end maize cultivation in the nation altogether.

The Sasakawa-Global 2000 Program worked with the regional Agricultural Development Division under the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation in six of the eight divisions to demonstrate that small-scale farmers across the country can make up for this shortage, achieving large yields with the use of fertilizer, drought-resistant maize, and other techniques.

Since the program began, more than 16,000 maize management training plots were planted. The project also promoted the improved technologies to small-scale farmers through farm field schools. These schools worked closely with local agricultural departments to discuss and explain the techniques being used in demonstration and management training plots, the importance of land preparation and conservation tillage, the planting dates for different regions, and the recommendations for maize. Training also covered soybeans, pigeon peas, rice, and wheat production technologies as part of promoting crop diversification.

Adopting new cultivation technologies to improve crop yields was only half the battle as farmers then had to find ways to sell their surplus crops. For example, in 2003, local currency devaluation was a major problem for farmers. As a result, there was an increase in the cost of fertilizers in 2004.

These circumstances later led to maize scarcity in Malawi. Many farmers were storing their harvest in their local granaries, expecting to get better prices, only to find that concerned international nongovernmental organizations were distributing their own reserves of maize. Thus, farmers who tried to sell maize found it was surplus to market needs, and prices dropped dramatically. At the end of the day, the farmers were the losers, with many not prepared to invest in the necessary seeds and fertilizers for the next farming season.

The program also has encouraged the use of quality protein maize for better nutrition. In 2002, QPM yields, using SG 2000 techniques, exceeded traditional maize yields. If all maize in 2002 had been QPM, Malawi would have produced enough maize to meet its needs.

Although Malawi remains an importer of maize, the program made headway, and the future of the staple crop is looking hopeful. Loan recovery in Malawi has reached around 90 percent, which is excellent considering the pressures on farmers to produce enough food despite insufficient and delayed rainfall.

Conservation agriculture, which addresses problems of soil fertility and water conservation, also has proved increasingly popular with Malawi's farmers. Some 150 management training plots using these techniques were established in 2003.

The Carter Center ended its agricultural activities in Malawi in 2006.