Food security policy has been made by a variety of institutions within the Malawi
government for many years. Thus a whole range of programmes that relate to agricultural
productivity, access to food and related topics is implemented (with varying degrees of
competency and success) by a number of ministries working with donor and civil society
partners. The food crisis (2001-03) gave rise to a new structure, the Food Crisis Joint Task
Force, to respond to the emergency, to investigate and report on various aspects of it, and
to oversee the design of a new food security policy and an institution to coordinate its
implementation. The role, interests and inter-relations of various agencies of government,
civil society and donor governments, which will impact on the design process and the
resulting policy, are surveyed here. Issues that are contentious and/or yet to be resolved
are also listed.
Adverse climatic conditions in 2000/2001 and 2001/2002 growing seasons, complemented
by mismanagement of grain reserves plunged Malawi into one of the worst food security
crises in recent times with about 30% of the population in need of emergency support. The
HIV/AIDS pandemic exacerbated an already precarious situation through an accelerated
attrition rate of the economically productive population. Inherent structural and institutional
bottlenecks in the production and marketing systems have to be urgently addressed to let
Malawi graduate from the group of food insecure nations.
Malawi lacks a well-developed and diversified monetary economy. It depends, to a large
extent, on agriculture, migrant labour remittances and returnee earnings, making it
relatively more vulnerable to the vagaries of nature and economic conditions in the labour
absorbing countries.