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This blog was originally published by IFPRI .

By Catherine Ragasa and John Mazunda (IFPRI)

Malawi’s agricultural policy is coming up short for farmers. While they receive heavy subsidies for seed and fertilizer, farmers continue to grapple with challenges to food security and productivity. Our recent research examines these gaps in Malawian agricultural policy, focusing on these questions: How can agricultural services best help farmers? And where is the ideal intersection of subsidies and extension services?

As crop prices move throughout the year, they influence households’ consumption decisions, farmers’ production decisions, and traders’ marketing decisions. As such, it is important to understand price seasonality in local contexts in order to design appropriate policy interventions. A new working paper and policy note from IFPRI’s Nigeria Strategy Support Program look at such price movements in grain prices in Kebbi state, Nigeria.

On July 10, agricultural experts from Africa, Europe, and Asia met in Lilongwe, Malawi for the latest meeting of the Malabo Montpellier Forum . The Forum provides a platform for informed dialogue and exchange among African policy makers, politicians and decision-makers on African agriculture and food security.

In April 2016, the President of Malawi declared a state of emergency in response to the second consecutive year of failed maize harvests. Domestic maize production in early 2016 only reached 2.4 million metric tons, compared to the 3.2 metric tons harvested in an average year. The international aid community and the private sector responded with the Food Insecurity Response Program (FIRP), which provided aid to almost 40 percent of the Malawian population.

Gender equality plays a pivotal role in food security, poverty reduction, and overall development. In a new project note , an ongoing project from IFPRI’s Markets, Trade, and Institutions Division looks at how women in Africa can be better integrated into emerging high-value cash crop production markets.