Malawi’s farmers fear El Nino because it always brings drought, withering heat, and therefore poor crop performance. Poor crop performance means farmers falling closer to the poverty line, the population paying more for their food, and many people going hungry.

Malawian farmers are particularly vulnerable to unpredictable weather patterns and dry spells because over 90% of farming households rely on rain to irrigate their crops. A recent report suggests that this year’s El Nino may result in a 22.5% drop in production of the country’s staple crop, maize. Maize makes up around 2/3 of national calorie intake. Any variance in production is therefore felt keenly not only by the farmers who devote on average 70% of their arable land to grow it, but also the whole country who depend on it for food.

With climate change bringing increasingly inhospitable weather, farmers will only be dealing with more of these struggles as time goes on. If Malawi wants to face what is an existential threat to food security head on, they need to support their smallholder farmers who produce the bulk of food. Market forces increasingly champion large scale commercial farms over smallholder farms, but around 80% of Malawi’s population is employed in subsistence agriculture.

Given the increasing number of challenges they are facing, there is a risk that the smallholder farmers currently producing the majority of the country’s food will be left behind, with potentially disastrous results.

Malawi is one of the African countries which will suffer most from climate change. It is a country already ravaged by drought, heavy rain, and soil erosion to the point where 80% of people can only eat twice a day. However, this is not the only reason for the current productivity slump. Vast amounts of human and agricultural potential are being wasted due to a lack of education and a lack of investment in Malawian smallholder farmers and their farms.

Source: Farmers Review