From basket case to food basket – Lessons to make hunger history
Without a doubt I vote Bingu wa Mutharika, the President of the Republic of Malawi, one of the best performing African Presidents. And the reason for it is simple; in 2004 when he came into power he made a pledge: “I will not be a president who goes around begging for food”. Unlike other rhetorical commitments we have often been treated to, he has put his words into action.
Malawi is an agriculture-based economy where agriculture contributes over 80% of export earnings; 38% GDP and supports 85% of the population. Smallholder farming (3.42 million households) contributes 75% of agricultural production. Maize is the staple food, grown by 97% of farming households and consumed by every Malawian. Prior to 2004, Malawi was forced into massive importation of maize for a number of consecutive years due to bad weather and low input uptake, among other factors.
In the 2004/5 season, many parts of the country were hit by prolonged dry spells. Yields in that year dropped to around 0.8 tons/ha, one of the lowest on record. The national production declined to less than 1.2 million Metric Tons, representing a decline of 24% from the previous year, approximately 60% of the estimated national maize food requirement. The whole country, and smallholder farmers in particular, were thrown into high risk and vulnerability.
In a space of three years, between 2005 and 2007, a miracle took place: the country has gone from food deficit of 43% to a food surplus of 57%; productivity increased two-fold from a ton per hectare to over 2 tons. Maize production nearly trebled from 1.23 million metric tons to 3.44 million metric tons. Malawians had enough and to export. As shown in the graph below, in 2009 the miracle is continuing.
How did the miracle take place?
The government doubled its expenditure on agriculture from 7.4% to 14%; scaled up access and affordability of farm inputs through rapid up-scaling of agro-dealers and a smart subsidy programme (through non-transferable coupons) for a whole range of farmers from vulnerable households through hard-working ones and adapters of new technologies.
From food exports and sales to the World Food Programme through the Purchase for Progress Programme, the country has been generating in excess of US120 million annually. This is then ploughed back for further scaling-up of the programme. And to ensure that smallholder farmers graduate faster from reliance on subsidized input for food security the government has embarked on a manure-making campaign; intensified extension and research in agriculture and the Greenbelt Initiative.
In 2003, in what is commonly referred to as the Maputo Protocol, African governments were supposed to have worked towards a similar miracle across the continent. They committed to spend 10% of their national budgets to agriculture in order to ensure food security to their citizens by 2015.
However, so far only 6 countries are coming good on this political commitment. Besides Malawi, they include Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal and Ethiopia. Nearly 7 years after making the political commitment, 17 countries still spend less than 5% of their national budgets on agriculture.
Malawi has restored faith in Africa by demonstrating that the continent need not become the world’s basket case. Effective ways to improve agriculture and combat food insecurity are no longer a secret.
In fact they are quite simple: scale up access and affordability of high yielding farm inputs through scaling up agro-dealers; put in place a smart subsidy programme for farmers; close the resource gap by leveraging commercial banks to lend more to agriculture through risk-sharing arrangements; build Africa’s capacity for evidence-based policies by strengthening policy institutions; and make operational policies to promote agro-processing and value addition.
However, the one ingredient that pulls all these solutions together is political will to deliver on commitments that have already been made.
As in the case of Malawi, donors may be resistant at the beginning but if the country hangs in there, in the end, as long as the programme is well run and corruption-free, everyone will want to associate with success as did the donor community in Malawi which provides budgetary support: DFID, EU, NORAD, Irish Aid, and World Bank among others. It is time that Africa took the initiative to make hunger history.–African Monitor
Archbishop Njongo Ndungane is the founder and president of African Monitor.
So proud to be a hunger free Malawian. Thanks Nyasatimes! Well done. These are good times, lets share them. Tizingokokana za ndale basi, aaaaa!
Well done done Bingu, Gondwe and entire govt. We salute you and may God grant you more wisdom, a lot of it!
Thank you God.
THe only thing i hate about Bingu is about the Mulhako thing otherwise zina ndi zina akuyesesa..ma appointments aalomwe atitopetsa….nepotism at its best….stop this immediately otherwise bingu is losing points on daily basis.
surely, a prophet is but without honor in his homeland. Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane is a former Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town who is well versed in matters of development in the continent. he is credited for forming the Jubilee 2000 which campaigned for the cancellation of debt of developing countries by rich countries. while Malawians are busy insulting and vilifying Bingu as a tribalist who is giving positions to his people of Lomwe tribe, others see in him an example of a responsible leader who has the interest of his people at heart. instead of looking at issues from a bigger pictures, narrow minded Malawians are obsessed with tribalism. tribalism is a virus which destroyed many countries such as Burundi, Rwanda, the DRC, the Sudan, Chad, Nigeria, to mention but six. yet, some Malawians are importing it into the country. instead of counting our blessings for having Bingu as our leader, some ideots are painting a picture of a divided Malawi along tribal lines, a thing which is not even there. i am a Malawian in the Diaspora, and i am proud of Bingu. he really is a shining example of a level headed leader, who understands the dynamics of governance and development.
UU!! Amwene chilungamo nchabwino. Kukondera kwayambadi kuwonekera kwambiri pakasankhidye ka anthu mmipando. It is bad to pretend that everything is alright when some sectors are being considered as inferior. I am one of the people who like Bingu so much but I would not love to pretend when things go wrong. A good advice will build our Malawi to best levels. Observe with sober minds and you will see what is happening arround. Most of senior positions are going to one tribe, too bad for Malawi. I don’t think this is what Malawians though would be the right way. Inu anthu ndi a Lomwe okha basi, ayi abwana mukuwonjeza apa. Such things by the end of the day create bad devision of people in the country. I was so glad to note that Malawians are now considering each other as one people through the revelation of the election results as most of all who voted spoke with one voice of Bingu only including myself. This inteprets that regional boundaries have really been for gone and is a very good thing to be proud of. But these sector or tribal appointments are starting giving Malawians a second thought. Bwana bingu, you are a very good leader but at most avoid what is happening now. Some of those people arround you may not tell you the trueth on this one, I think on your own try to check how many people you have considered on high positions this time and most of them from where? This can indeed generate into bad Malawi tomorrow -even more than worse before. While merit is the key word but fair distribution is the best too in a united society like Malawi today.
You may not know Mr. Alex Dziko that you are the one being narrow minded. Do not over trust your views oryour own judgement
Bingu is a great man only if he is controlled. Last time he perfomed well because he was controlled by opposition. This time Bingu is going to shame us. am afraid.
I like this analysis. it trully reflects the huge transformation thru which Malawi has gone. Surely, this is no one man show. Every Malawian has the cause to pat themselves at the back.
We should be proud that we had peaceful, free and fair elections, we have achieved food security, we are the second most peaceful country in Africa and our economy is growing impressively. We need to work very hard as individuals to make a difference because there is political will for us to prosper.
Credit to all Malawians indeed……Food Security, peaceful elections, political will to develop Malawi and many positives….!!!! But these things need to be safe guarded …..no room for complacency !!!!
We are all proud of Bingu. The same people who did not have enough food in the past are now swimming in plenty.This is what a people with hope can do. They can surmount anything.
My plea to all fellow malawians is that we unite. We need to set aside our differences and work toward realising the most of our potential.
We can make it. We can.
There is nothing supernatural about all the other nations on earth. We are equal in the eyes of our creator and if America can do it, so can we. If the British can do it, so can we. If the Chinese can do it so can we. If the Iranians can do it, so can we.
We are not secondary citizens of the world. Let us support the president by thinking, working hard, growing rich and developing our beautiful country.
Thanks alot.
Nadi pano .we are proud of you sir [ BINGU] Komanso ndigwrizane ndi Alex Dziko.
Bravoooo! A Bingu hoyeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!
He deserve to be life president. I would like to call upon Members of parliament to change the constitution as they are changing standing orders to punishing Tembo. Bingu woye! Njala yatha woye!
I am hesitant to embrace the analysis by the churchman. Between 1964 and 1994, there were several bouts of famine despite what Kamuzu was bragging about. In Muluzi’s era, there was the El Nino phenomenon which caused havoc to food security. Th e IMF compounded the problem by insisting govt clear out old stocks from the grain reserves. Those of us who have had the privilege of attending food security meetings in the region realise that there is more to it than mere politicking. Hunger like cholera is endemic in malawi. Even at the height of a bumper harvest, locaL WFP office noted that over one million people were starving by December 2008. It should be noted too, that the obstacles to FS are also attributed to donor conduct who are largely white and look at maize as animal feed therefore ignore the needs of the recipient nation. Lastly, Malawi still relies os small plots of land which are susceptible to the elements, low production, poor management, fertilizers and seed. Where hunger has been dealt with seriously are nations that practice large estate farming, see SA,ZA before the madness. I swear that if Malawi maize would be sold on the international market, it would be sanctioned because the manner in which it is produced is akin to slavery.