Poverty in Malawi

Treatment for malnutrition, Malawi © United Nations' Integrated Regional Information Network

A detailed progress report published in 2008 is broadly positive about Malawi's prospects for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The only Goals deemed “unlikely” to be achieved are those for gender equality and maternal mortality. However, this tone of cautious optimism springs largely from the presumption of continuity in the improvement in Malawi’s fortunes experienced in the period immediately prior to the report’s preparation. Successive bumper harvests, generous debt relief and robust foreign aid have indeed set the poverty indicators on a more encouraging trajectory.

Assessed as the cost of basic food requirements, extreme poverty nevertheless affects a worryingly high proportion of the population. It fell from 54% in 1990 only as far as 40% by 2007. Strategies to sustain a rate of poverty reduction necessary to reach the target of 27% by 2015 will be vulnerable to economic or climatic shocks.

Poverty of this degree holds back attempts to broaden the base of education. Although fees for primary schooling were lifted as long ago as 1994, net enrolment has advanced slowly from 58% in 1992 to 73% in 2007. There is a a shortage of teachers, the schools often lack basic facilities and access may involve difficult travel. Enrolment of girls is now the same as boys but they are more likely to drop out. Overall illiteracy of women in Malawi at 56% is double the rate for men and their share of formal employment is just 15%.

Poverty reduction programmes are informed by the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS) which covers the period 2006-2011. International donors have undertaken to improve the coordination of their activities and to increase the proportion of aid allocated to direct budget support. Aid remains the largest single contributor to Malawi’s budget, amounting to about 40% of national income. China signed a major agreement in 2008, embracing grants, loans and trade.

Health and HIV/AIDS in Malawi

The HIV/AIDS pandemic has undermined Malawi’s economic growth and poverty reduction. Valuable resources have been diverted to the care of the sick, irreplaceable human capital has been lost, and half a million children have been orphaned. Official reports now acknowledge that HIV prevalence has stabilised over the past 5-7 years, thanks to a determined approach to testing and education, backed by open debate by senior officials. However, the rate remained as high as 12.0% in 2006 with over 100,000 new infections.

Since 2004 when the National AIDS Commission was able to commence provision of anti-retroviral treatment, the annual number of deaths from AIDS has fallen dramatically, perhaps as much as 75%. By September 2008, 184,000 people were receiving the treatment out of about 240,000 in need. There is a reasonable prospect that the target of universal coverage by 2010 will be achieved.

Whilst funding to fight HIV/AIDS has been readily available, Malawi's capacity to implement health programmes is compromised by acute shortages of medical personnel. Malawi has less than two doctors per 100,000 people, possibly the lowest figure for any country. In 2005 the government launched a six-year programme to improve health services, with especial focus on attracting, retaining and training health workers. Although thousands of vacancies remain, there is some evidence of a reduction in migration. Capacity of the most qualified staff has been increased by delegating tasks to lower grades and to community health workers.

water source, Ntcheu, Malawi © Aditya Jha

Despite the resource crisis, rates of infant and child mortality have been reduced by about a half since 1992, suggesting that the MDG targets will be achieved. A contributory factor may be improvements in access to safe water and sanitation which are also in line with MDG expectations. Indeed the government has set a target, independent of the MDGs, to provide access to safe water within 500 metres for 80% of the population by 2011 and improved sanitation for 70%. Nevertheless, overall standards remain low, as illustrated by the outbreak of cholera in poor areas of the capital, Lilongwe, in late 2008.

The rate of maternal mortality is undoubtedly a source of major concern and embarrassment to government and donors alike, having increased from the MDG baseline 1992 figure of 620 per 100,000 births to 807 in 2006. Although the risks are exacerbated by the young age at which women start families and by the frequency of pregnancies, it is the core weaknesses of the health system – too few qualified staff and inaccessible facilities – that cause this tragic loss of life.
Food Security in Malawi

Farming in Malawi © United Nations' Integrated Regional Information Network

Maize is the staple of the Malawian diet. Over 80% of the population depends on agriculture for livelihoods of which the majority are subsistence farmers working small plots of rainfed crops. Rainfall is erratic from one harvest season to the next and irrigation is in place for less than 20% of cultivated land. In years of good rains, the country enjoys a surplus and poverty eases a little; if rainfall fails, household food security suffers, sometimes to serious degree. In 2005, the lowest maize harvest in a decade left almost half of the population in need of food assistance.

The last decade has seen periodic attempts to improve farm efficiency in Malawi through subsidies for higher quality maize seeds and fertiliser that poor farmers cannot normally afford. Since 2005, aided by good rains and by a more relaxed ideology of international donors and financial institutions, this strategy has brought about a significant recovery in food security. The proportion of young children who are underweight fell to 14% in 2007, in line with the MDG target.

Boy helps sort maize in Malawi © The UNESCO Courier

The country has even managed to navigate a path through the food and fuel price crisis of 2008. A ban on the export of maize, the introduction of state price controls, backed by $77 million of emergency IMF support, have so far apparently prevented serious dislocation of household access to food. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization has presented the agency’s highest award to President Bingu Wa Mutharika, who takes responsibility for the agriculture sector. Malawi spends 16% of its national budget on agriculture, unusually high for Africa.

However, the hunger season of early 2009 may expose imperfections in Malawi’s subsidy strategy. Difficult judgements are required in deciding how much surplus to export, how much the state should purchase for national food security and how to create impartial incentives through subsidy and price controls. The cautiously positive food security prediction for the period to March published by the US agency, FEWS NET, includes the caveat that “prices should remain affordable if ADMARC (the state food distribution agency) is able to maintain adequate supply to meet demand.” Some observers report that government supplies have faltered, especially in southern regions where the most recent harvest was less favourable.
Climate Change in Malawi

Floods in Malawi © United Nations' Integrated Regional Information Network

This juggling act in the search for food security will gain no favours from climate change. A 2006 ActionAid report observed that "smallholder farmers in Malawi have been exposed to increased droughts and floods, tremendously affecting food security". Adaptation plans are hampered both by the limited capacity of poor farmers to respond and by the uncertainty of the climate predictions themselves. Whilst there is consensus that temperatures will continue to rise, the volume and intensity of rainfall in Malawi is sensitive to the El Nino phenomenon for which climate models lack resolution.

The priority projects identified in the country's National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) include improved storage facilities, diversification of crops and afforestation. There are separate proposals to invest heavily in water management, in particular to restore irrigation systems in a “green belt” surrounding Lake Malawi.

The relationship between forests and energy are key variables for both climate change and development in Malawi. Almost the entire population relies on charcoal or wood for household fuel. Even the 10% who have electricity find it too expensive for cooking. Forest cover has therefore declined from 44% in 1990 to about 35%. Soil erosion, silting and flooding are further aggravated by high population growth of 2.6% pa and by the farming of marginal land.
Politics in Malawi

Formerly the British colony of Nyasaland, Malawi became independent in 1964. However it was not until 1994 that multi-party politics was permitted and the authoritarian “president for life”, Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda, was defeated by Bakili Muluzi of the United Democratic Front (UDF).

The UDF government acted immediately to improve governance standards and adopt a new constitution. However, Muluzi’s second term was marred by widespread allegations of government corruption which led many donors to withhold promised funds. When Muluzi failed in his attempt to amend the constitution to allow him to serve a third term, he picked economist Bingu Wa Mutharika as his successor and, although a relative outsider, Mutharika won the general elections held in May 2004.

President Mutharika of Malawi © United Nations' Integrated Regional Information Network

Upon taking office, Mutharika launched a crackdown on corruption which was perceived by many in the UDF as a direct attack on Muluzi who remained party chairman. Worsening relations with Muluzi led the president to launch the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in 2005, backed by about 70 members of parliament who defected from the UDF. A Supreme Court constitutional ruling that these defectors should be expelled from parliament has not been implemented. This has prompted Mutharika's opponents to block the passage of most legislation for the last four years, a logjam which may be linked with a worsening of Malawi's position in the Corruption Perceptions Index.

The split of the UDF has also allowed Muluzi to re-emerge as its champion and as a candidate to oppose Mutharika in the presidential election due in May 2009. The government has responded by placing the former president under arrest. A first charge of plotting a coup was not pursued but has been closely followed by allegations of theft of aid. This treatment of Muluzi echoes a similar unresolved case of Vice President Cassim Chilumpha who was arrested in 2006 on charges of treason.
Human Rights and Media in Malawi

Dysfunctional politics has close links to human rights in that a considerable volume of important legislation defending the rights of children and women has failed to progress beyond drafts. Even straightforward but vital regulations for registration of births are stalled. Malawi's human rights record has otherwise much improved under multi-party democracy. In addition to the Human Rights Commission and the Anti-Corruption Bureau, which were established under the 1994 constitution, a number of non-governmental institutions have emerged to further democratisation, the rule of law and human rights.

Radio plays a key role in informing the Malawi people. While the state-owned Malawi Broadcasting Corporation has tended to ignore certain issues, a number of privately owned, civil society-run radio channels allow debate on controversial topics.
Economy in Malawi

tea plantation, Mulanje, Malawi © Aditya Jha

Tobacco alone represents about 60% of the country's total exports, being grown primarily on large commercial estates. The government recognises that future prospects for tobacco exports are constrained by growing anti-smoking sentiment worldwide. However, efforts to date to diversify into other cash crops have met with limited success. A significant new development is the government approval for a $185 million investment by an Australian firm for uranium mining. This may come on stream in 2009, eventually generating significant export earnings.

The World Bank has encouraged Malawi to take greater advantage of preferential trade arrangements and to improve its poor transport infrastructure. Transportation costs from the landlocked country on average double the cost of exported goods. However, even a modest all round upgrade of roads would cost $500 million.

Malawi's external and domestic debt has been a major constraint on economic development. However, Mutharika's government is seen as having largely overcome the alleged fiscal profligacy and corruption that were the stumbling blocks in the past. Debt relief packages agreed at the Edinburgh G8 summit in July 2005 were finally honoured when Malawi reached the completion point under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative in 2006. Over 80% of external debt has been cancelled, leading to an anticipated reduction in annual debt-service payments from $125 million to $15 million, according to the 2008 MDG Progress Report.



The OneWorld Malawi Guide was first published in December 2004 with a text written by Volunteer Editor Aditya Jha.

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