Risks are ever-present for Malawi’s nearly 3 million farming households. National food security is largely dependent on the performance of rain-fed agriculture, which is vulnerable to a range of production, market, and enabling environment risks. Annual losses from production risks for major crops amounted to US$149 million, on average, between 1980 and 2012. Approximately 80 percent of Malawians live in rural areas, and 51 percent of the population lives below the national poverty line. In this context, effectively managing agricultural risks is critical to ensuring food security, reducing poverty, and boosting economic growth and development.
To better understand the risk landscape in Malawi, the World Bank's Agricultural Risk Management Team (ARMT) conducted the Malawi Agricultural Sector Risk Assessment in collaboration with the Government of Malawi. ARMT examined existing agricultural risks to the sector and prioritized them according to their frequency and severity of impact on the sector.
As a result of the risk assessment findings, Malawi's Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security requested that ARMT recommend potential risk management solutions to close the gap in resources devoted to risk mitigation. The solution areas were selected together with the Government of Malawi based on feedback from a broad group of agricultural sector stakeholders. The recommendations are summarized in the policy note Managing Agricultural Risk for Growth and Food Security in Malawi.
