About Malawi

Physical Profile

General

Malawi is a land locked country located in Southern Africa, bordered by Tanzania to the north, Mozambique to the east, south and south-east, and Zambia to the west. As a country, Malawi is 855km long, with widths varying from 10km to 250km, covering a total area if 118,484km2, of which over 24,000km2 is fresh water.

Physical Characteristics

The geographical character of Malawi is dominated by Lake Malawi, which stretches 568km along the spine of the country, with varying widths from 16km to 80km. Lake Malawi is the third largest in Africa, and the thirteenth largest in the world.

To the west of the lake, the countries plateau rises to a general height of between 915m and 1,220m. Rising above these fairly cool highlands are the higher plateaus of Dedza, Viphya and Kirk Range which, in places, reach between 1,524m and 2,440m. In the Southern Region of Malawi, the Shire Highlands are dominated by the 2,134m high Zomba Mountain. The highest peak in Malawi is Sapitwa on the Mulanji Mountain (3,050m high) located in the southern part of the country.

Climate

There are three seasons: the dry season; the cool, and; the wet season. The rainy season normally extends from November to April. The cool season is from May to July and the dry season runs from August to October. Temperatures and rainfall are greatly influenced by the lake and altitude.

Mountain areas above 1,068m are cool with annual temperatures ranging from 14oC to 18oC. The highest temperatures are in the Rift Valley where they reach as high as 38oC in the hottest months while frost is common on any plateau above 1,830m. Rainfall is between 635mm and 3,050mm depending on the altitude. Although rainfall varies, most parts of the country receive sufficient rain for dry land farming except during periods of droughts.

Vegetation

The predominant vegetation of Malawi is the savannah woodland, adapted to suit the five month dry season. Evergreen forests are found in places where ground water is plentiful. Grasslands are mainly found on high plateaus.

Country Snapshots

Social Demographic Data

Trend And Problem Analysis : Livelihood Vulnerability And Insecurity In Malawi

Introduction

Malawi is one of the most densely populated countries in Africa with a population of some 12 million people, with nearly half below the age of 15. It is estimated that some 85% of Malawi’s population are living in rural areas. Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the World, ranked 163rd out of 174 countries by the UNDP’s Human Development Index. More than 60% of the population experiences chronic poverty every year. The highest concentration of poverty is in the Southern Region of the country where 68.1% of households are poor, compared to 62.8% in the Central Region and 62.5% in the Northern Region. The current level of poverty is characterized by deep inequality. The richest 20% of the population in Malawi consumes nearly half of all goods and services, whereas the poorest 20%
consume only 6.3%. The country has one of the highest rates of HIV infection in the region and life expectancy at birth presently stands at less than 40 years. Malawi’s national literacy rate is 42%, one of the lowest in Africa, with a literacy rate for women of only 34% . The country also has some of the worst child malnutrition and mortality rates in Africa. Livelihood deterioration in Malawi has been due to a bewildering array of political, economic and social changes and population pressures. The 2001/03 Southern African crisis was one example that highlighted the long term decline in rural livelihoods in Malawi. This crisis was a result of a complex set of interrelated problems and issues associated with increasing levels of poverty, rather than short term transitory food insecurity. In a recent literature review of longer term livelihood trends (Frankenberger et al, 2003), it was found that levels of rural
poverty have increased since the advent of structural adjustment in the mid 1980s. These trends have continued to accelerate since 1995, with Malawi’s health and socio-economic indicators steadily declining, and the disparity in income continuing to widen. In addition, HIV/AIDS is playing a major role in accentuating the chronic decline in rural livelihoods in most parts of Malawi, impacting on households’ labour capacity and utilization of scarce assets for medical care and funerals.

Despite the high levels of development assistance Malawi has received over the past 20 years or so, rural livelihoods continue to become less viable and increasingly vulnerable – something that the 2001/03 Southern African crisis clearly highlighted. This has obvious implications for the future of development programs in Malawi.

Eroding Skills And Knowledge Base

Morbidity and mortality due to HIV/AIDS has caused a significant shift in demographics and household composition.
Mortality due to AIDS has resulted in a much greater percentage of female-headed households (estimated in one study at approximately 30%), as well as many households headed by single parents, children or the elderly. Female-headed households are more likely to care for orphans with more than 12 percent of households in Malawi hosting two or more orphans . In one study, 26% of all households surveyed were hosting one or more orphans which amounts to 0.53 orphans per family on average, or 1.79 orphans per orphan-keeping household .

There are a number of other important outcomes that relate to the eroded skills and knowledge base that rural households experience due to the impact of HIV/AIDS. Those affected by HIV/AIDS are typically productive adults. Malawi has already lost more than 5% of its farm labor force due to HIV/AIDS and is projected to lose an additional 15% by 2020 . Nearly 60% of Malawians say they have lost a family member to the disease while 25% say they spend more than five hours a day caring for a sick person . In addition, professionals have also not been spared by the disease, meaning that social and technical agencies are facing a human resource shortage and will become increasingly unable to meet the needs of poor communities, especially within the Government civil service. The impact of HIV/AIDS will be felt beyond the current generation of working people - children are being taken out of
school early because parents cannot afford fees and/or their labor is needed to support the household15. One study noted school drop-out rates of about 25%15. This compounds another unfortunate consequence of adult death, the loss of skill transfer (particularly in traditional farming methods) that would normally take place from one generation to the next. Finally, the difficult times faced over the past two decades have engendered a fatalistic attitude amongst the rural poor. Malawi is one of two countries in a survey of 15 African countries in which most people do not expect their children to live better lives then themselves18.

Underdeveloped Infrastructure And Over Exploited Natural Resources Base

Over the last twenty five years Malawi’s population has continued to grow at an alarming rate, with estimates showing that the rural population has more than doubled since 1980. As in many other developing countries, this has led to land fragmentation and smaller per household farm size. In one study, the average size of the household’s maize plot was only slightly more than 0.5 hectares. However, most households farm less than this average, which would typically produce enough maize for a few months of home consumption. This represents a significant change for Malawi, which was once considered practically self-sufficient in food production in the not-so-distant past. Social stratification is being realized through a process of land acquisition by wealthier households or as the result of family conflict .

Shrinking per household land availability and a related decrease in soil fertility and productivity are well
documented as the most significant changes regarding access to natural resources . In terms of infrastructure, a substantial number of public works programs have contributed to an improved system of secondary and tertiary roads. However, the livelihoods impact of these programs tend to be localized and largely speculative at this point. It remains an accurate statement that much of rural Malawi suffers from physical isolation, both periodically and on a continuous basis. This factor constrains market participation, access to education and health care and many other vital services.

Dwindling Financial Capital

The financial capital accessible to rural households has largely disappeared. Many people are trapped in a debt cycle, unable to repay past loans made by formal institutions or informally from friends or relatives. Most informal loans are used for food purchase, funeral expenses, or costs of caring for the sick – non-productive investments that do not yield sufficient revenues for the repayment of loans. Currently, informal loans are either difficult to obtain because few people have any money to lend, or when lent are done so at exorbitantly high interest rates. Formal lending institutions have become virtually non-existent in rural areas, and tend to draw their clients from urban areas. Those formal lending institutions who do offer loans in remoter areas do so only to wealthier individuals with adequate collateral. Formal cash loans have generally been used for the purchase of agricultural inputs, a purchase that is no longer made with great frequency. NGOs have however assisted in the
creation of village savings groups, although on a limited basis15. Savings based approaches often provide the best opportunities for women, who are increasingly excluded because of their lack of assets which would normally be used for collateral

The “Social Unraveling” Of Malawian Society

Widespread poverty and the stigma of HIV/AIDS have resulted in a significant decay in social cohesion and the break up of the traditional household form, which was previously vital in sustaining livelihoods in rural Malawi.
Informal safety nets no longer function as they did in the past. In addition, the democratization process that began during the 1990s is thought to have contributed to a breakdown in social cohesion20. It was also reported that non-repayment of informal loans had led to violence and enmity, which was contributing to the “social unraveling” of traditional community structures and family relationships15. Creditors sometimes seize non-cash assets still retained by the indebted household. Accusations that the seized property exceeds the value of the debt are common. This enmity among households has created a tense social atmosphere clouding village harmony16. The period of food shortages during 2001/03 saw a period of widespread debt expansion. Many people, short of food and
other vital basic needs, borrowed cash and goods, promising to pay back as the situation improved. However, many of these households still remain unable to repay their debts.

Denial, fatalism and stigma dominate rural dwellers’ attitudes towards HIV/AIDS. Malawians are willing to talk about HIV/AIDS in the abstract, but when speaking about themselves or their family, they prefer to speak of “chronic illness”. This stigma forces affected families to cope on their own. At funerals AIDS is not mentioned as the cause of death; these families suffer in silence with a deepening sense of shame and fear16. Assistance from family and friends is less welcome now as it implies a requirement for reciprocation, which in effect would place the household further into debt.

Currently traditional social systems and contemporary state structures fail to provide institutional environments that can support the most vulnerable in rural areas. The state has essentially withdrawn from rural social service provision, leaving the poor dangerously without basic access to services. This in turn increases the discretionary authority of the traditional leadership to support their own “clients”, especially when resources are in limited supply – which in recent years has been mainly focused on relief commodities. The second problem is that the basic freedoms of the most vulnerable, people such as widows and orphans, and the broken families of the extremely poor, are subject to various forms of exploitation. For women this is often sexual in nature. For widows, poor women, and adolescent girls, especially orphans, if they want food and any form of income, this is often the only asset they have left, and without other choices, this is their only means to survival.

Patronage and corruption are wide spread and influence the allocation of social services15. The consequences for the most dispossessed, especially widows, orphans, and all those women within the poorest households, are that they lose their assets, as well as much in the way of any basic rights. As a result of this long term decline in poor peoples livelihoods, there is a growing dependency mindset amongst poor rural people which has effected a change in peoples perceptions of themselves, and in doing so, accepting their position as subjects of exploitation rather than dignified citizens with rights and entitlements. This is evidenced by corruption and the failure of traditional institutional structures to move from a system of patronage to recognition and fulfillment of peoples rights as citizens15.

Social differentiation is increasing as the poor are forced to engage in sharecropping, land leasing and contract labor agreements to meet their basic consumption needs. Better off urban households are now negotiating agreements with poor households to lease their land and pay them labor wages to work their own farms, with most of the harvest going to the urban household16.

Livelihood Strategies To Manage Risk

Since colonial times, a dual production system was in place consisting of an estate based commercial sector focusing on tobacco, with a smallholder sector, which is primarily subsistence oriented, pursuing maize mono-cropping. Women from smallholder households were primarily focused on the production of subsistence crops while men often migrated for work16.

Very little diversification of output has taken place over the last decade; there is relatively little cash crop production, livestock levels are low, staple crops are grown year after year without rotation or fallow. Although the growth of large-scale estate agriculture has been low, the share of small-scale agriculture has increased17. Because smallholders have lost access to inputs and output markets, many have reverted to a subsistence oriented approach to agriculture. Yields are very low and many of the poor are only able to produce enough food from their own fields to last for one to three months. Prolonged declines in productivity and per capita income have led to asset depletion, rising debt and a breakdown in social capital15. The agrarian way of life for most smallholder Malawian households has seriously eroded over the past two decades16. A significant number of rural households no longer have sufficient assets to secure even their basic needs. As a result, a large number of the poor have to rely on ganyu labor (piece-work) on very exploitative terms. It is estimated that up to 55% of poor Malawian households rely on ganyu to respond to acute hunger15. Such households find themselves trapped in a ganyu work cycle, receiving payment in food or kind and thereby not working on their own fields. Women are particularly exploited, often receiving a mean wage rate that is two-thirds the rate paid to men.Increasing levels of chronic poverty have also been accompanied by a reduction in the livelihood strategies available to the poor. Livelihood strategies have been compromised by falling low and declining yields; loss of market access for cash crops and a failure of private traders to fill the vacuum; volatile food prices; falling demand for labor and wages and declining non-farm opportunities; deteriorating civil society in villages; and corruption whereby local elites impose fees and fines on local traders. This has led to a dramatic deterioration in food security. As a result, a large portion of the poor households operate with the shortest time horizon, seeking to meet their needs one day at a time16.

Another factor that has had a significant impact on rural cash incomes has been the decline of migration to South Africa to work in the mines. Historically, Malawian rural households have collectively functioned as long distance male labor reserves16. The ban on migration to South Africa has had adverse repercussions on rural cash flows. Currently, rural Malawians are more vulnerable to illness, crime, unemployment, harvest failures, and food price fluctuations than at any other time .

Livelihood Outcomes - A Picture Of Livelihood Vulnerability And Insecurity

The vulnerability of rural livelihoods has increased dramatically as a result of longer term systemic/structural changes combined with current supply shocks. Agriculture has become stagnated, real wages have tended to fall, and more people have been forced onto the informal job market with low wages and precarious terms and conditions of employment . Incomplete market liberalization has tended to create new hazards with more volatile prices for farm produce and food. Public goods and services have been reduced in remote rural areas with livelihood options having become more restrictive where markets have collapsed.

These processes have led to a situation where the rural poor have a highly eroded asset status, no cattle or goats, low levels of education, no savings, declining social capital, and limited access to labor due to HIV/AIDS. In remote areas, market-oriented agriculture has reverted back to subsistence agriculture where 80-90 percent of what is grown is consumed by the household. The poor can only rely on their own production to meet one to three months of their consumption needs. The poorest rely on ganyu to cover food deficits, exacerbating vulnerability .Economic inequality has accelerated in rural Malawi. This is very much related to the ability to acquire inputs for agriculture production and to obtain formal credit. For example, the higher income quartile has three to six times higher productivity per land area than the poorest23. Household economic differentiation in rural areas also means that not all household are equally vulnerable to all shocks. Some households are chronically vulnerable needing support on a routine basis, whilst other households experience transitory vulnerability, usually when a co-variant shock, such as the 2001/03 food crisis, hits a large group of people. Populations that experience transitory vulnerability often rely on their own assets and social capital to cope with shortfalls in the near term.

While chronic poverty is widespread among rural households, the rural poor that fall into this category should not be considered a homogeneous group. Certain demographic sub-sets have been identified as being particularly prone to high rates of chronic poverty. These include land-constrained smallholder farmers; labor-constrained female-headed households; estate workers or tenants; ganyu (piece-work) and other casual laborers; destitute or disadvantaged children; persons with disabilities; the elderly; the uneducated; and the unemployed . One chronically vulnerable group that has grown in size in recent years is people living with HIV/AIDS.