Resource information
Malawi has pursued an agricultural-led development strategy since its Independence in 1964. This agricultural-led development strategy was based on the promotion of a dual agricultural system comprising estate (large-scale) production mainly for cash (export) crops and smallholder agricultural production mainly to support the food security needs of the population. After four decades of agricultural-led development strategies in post-Independence Malawi, economic growth has been erratic and a large proportion of the population lives below the poverty line. Studies also suggest that the poverty situation has worsened. Agricultural policies in the post-Independence era favoured large-scale (estate) production at the expense of smallholder farmers who account for more than 80 percent of households. Smallholder farmers face several constraints, including landlessness and smallland holdings and declining agricultural productivity. This study argues that past agricultural strategies have been less successful because they ignored the land question among smallholder farmers. The study also show that access to land via agricultural production is one of the important factors that can translate growth to poverty reduction. Hence, for agricultural based strategies to be pro-poor in Malawi, land redistribution or resettlement programmes for the landless or near landless should be central and a pre-condition for the effectiveness of pro-poor growth strategies in agriculture.
