Do Smallholder Farmers in Heterogeneous Settings in Malawi Use Commercial Input Purchasing to Adapt to Recurrent Weather Shocks?
Date
2022-10
Authors
Makate, Clifton
Makate, Marshall
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
African Economic Research Consortium
Abstract
Agriculture in Malawi is mainly rain-fed, making it highly sensitive to climate risk,
particularly weather shocks. Historical climate trends in the country show high
climate variability, and extreme climate events such as drought and flood have been
linked to low agricultural yields (Figure 1). Therefore, efforts toward building the
resilience of smallholder farmers to persistent weather shocks are vital for sustainable
livelihoods. Promoting strategies that enhance smallholder farmers' resilience to
climate risks is high on the policy agenda of Malawi. This notion is evidenced by
remarkable progress in incorporating climate change adaptation and management
in the country's development plans, policies, and strategies in the past twenty years.
Through the National Agricultural Policy (NAP), Malawi supports climate change
adaptation in agriculture through Climate-smart agriculture (CSA). As evidenced in
the recently launched National Agriculture Investment Plan (NAIP), which is the main
implementation vehicle for NAP, resilient livelihoods and agricultural systems is one
of the four programs1
targeted at transforming agriculture. To successfully transform
smallholder agriculture with increasing climate risk, smallholder farmers need access
to diverse inputs to adapt to climate change. Commercial input purchasing offers
farmers the opportunity and autonomy to alter input choices and diversity in ways
that improve the resilience of their agricultural activities to weather shocks.