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Geography, agriculture and the economy Geography Malawi is a landlocked country, surrounded by Mozambique, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia. The country’s total surface area includes about 94,000 km2 of land and 24,000 km2 of inland lakes, including Lake Malawi, one of Africa’s largest. Rainfall is more abundant in the north, while the south is particularly vulnerable to drought. With a population of 12 million and a density of 128 people per km2 , Malawi is one of the most densely populated countries in Africa. Most people live in rural areas. The sparsely populated northern region is the least developed part of the country. The central region is home to more than 40 per cent of the population and is the location of the capital city, Lilongwe. Central Malawi has some of the country’s most fertile and productive land, including many commercial tobacco estates. The southern region is the most densely populated, with about 47 per cent of the total population. AgricultureAgricultural production in Malawi depends mainly on seasonal rainfall. Although all of the country’s 27 districts have access to a body of water, either a river or one of Malawi’s five lakes, less than 1 per cent of all cultivated land is under irrigation. More than 98 per cent of Malawi’s people are subsistence farmers and some 2.5 to 3 million small-scale farmers cultivate about 2.4 million hectares under customary land tenure. Maize is the principal crop, but one third of small-scale farmers also cultivate some cash crops such as burley tobacco and groundnuts. After independence, large agricultural estates had preferential access to land, capital and export markets. But the estate sector has shrunk since the late 1990s. Currently about 36,000 estates occupy from 120,000 to 150,000 ha of land with cultivations of tobacco, tea, sugar, coffee, rubber and nuts. Much estate land is not utilized, and there is pressure for land reform and the allocation of estate land to small-scale farmers. In good years, with favorable conditions of weather, prices and inputs, farmers are able to produce the 2.3 million tonnes of maize that are regarded as the threshold of national self-sufficiency. Economy The country’s economy is dominated by the agricultural sector, which accounts for 85 per cent of employment and generates as much as 45 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and 90 per cent of export earnings. Economic growth is conditioned by the variables of agricultural production, as in recent years of recurring drought. The narrow economic base and small size of the domestic market limit the economy’s growth, which is also hindered by an erratic power supply, poor infrastructure and high transport costs. Macroeconomic instability is reflected in high inflation rates and a heavy domestic debt burden.
Source: IFAD |
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