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Poverty, AIDS and hunger
Breaking out of Malawi’s poverty trap

Malcolm Blackie introduces a new book that examines how Malawians can find ways to tackle the interlinked problems of HIV and AIDS, hunger and poverty.

The United Nations Millennium Development Goals, the British Africa Commission and the ‘Make Poverty History’ campaign all follow a ‘big plan’ approach to preventing hunger and reducing the prevalence of disease. In ‘Poverty, AIDS and hunger: Breaking the poverty trap in Malawi’, we propose a different model.

Using examples from Malawi, which reached millions of people, we show that significant, widespread change is possible, affordable and reliable. The key is using poor people’s skills and knowledge to help them solve problems, rather than imposing ‘big plans’ on them. Our model also focuses on responsibility, equality and human dignity, giving Africans the opportunity to express themselves as equals, not supplicants.

Malawi has many problems:

• Agriculture is constrained by economic isolation, high transport costs, growing environmental degradation and depleted soils.
• Malaria and other communicable diseases are major problems. The country is also gripped by AIDS; in 2004, the Malawi National AIDS Commission estimated that 900,000 Malawians were infected with HIV and 170,000 people needed anti-retroviral therapy.
• Malawi experiences climatic problems. In 2002, a drought-related famine led to an emergency feeding programme for 3.2 million people. Also, food production has not kept up with population growth.
• Poverty and hunger reduce people’s faith in politicians. This sets back prospects for democracy in Malawi, as elsewhere in Africa.
• Hunger forces people into impossible choices just to survive – children are taken out of school, women are forced into high-risk sexual behaviour.

We argue that agricultural transformation must come from developing new technologies. These include more nutrient-efficient and higher yielding crop varieties, practices that enhance soil fertility and practices to reduce crop losses from pests and diseases. Farmers must adopt these through a ‘Green Evolution’, based on high quality, reliable science directed to the needs of farmers. Farmers experiment with different technologies themselves and develop farming systems best suited to their needs. This contrasts with prescriptive ‘Green Revolution’ efforts, which have uniformly failed in Malawi and most of Africa.

Achieving change will be tough. Nearly half the population is under 15 years old, and normally productive adults are often affected by HIV and AIDS. The villages and urban slums of Malawi are populated by under-employed or unemployed young adults, and malnourished children. Many are orphans, traumatised by the loss of parents and carers, and whose education and personal development has been neglected.

In this challenging environment, our book shows opportunities for change if:

• Policymakers base their decisions on evidence. We illustrate how the compelling evidence for using the ‘starter pack’ programme to improve food security amongst poor people was discounted, affecting the most vulnerable people in Malawi.
• The energy and enthusiasm of young people is exploited. Young people in Africa show great initiative and enthusiasm for developing new entrepreneurial activities. An example is the growth of mobile phone servicing and supplying industries, despite little formal training or support in most cases.
• Changes must come through focused, well implemented consultations and collaboration between all levels of public and private sectors. The humanitarian response to the famine of 2002 shows the power of this approach. In this case, government agencies, non-governmental organisations, donor agencies and the private sector combined to achieve an effective crisis feeding programme for one third of the population.

Tel: +44 (0) 1603 506440
Fax: +44 (0) 1603 506440
Email: mblackie@netcom.co.uk

December 2006

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