Agricultural Development

The El Niño weather phenomenon brings with it significant variations in typical weather patterns. For Malawi, that variation often takes the form of severe dry weather, impacting agricultural growing conditions and harvests. A new IFPRI Malawi Strategy Support Program Policy Note looks at the potential implications of the current El Niño conditions on Malawi’s agriculture and food security, as well as ways for policymakers and farmers to strengthen the resilience of their response. Maize yields have declined in Malawi in 8 of the last 12 years in which the El Niño phenomenon occurred.

Key takeawaysA study in Nigeria links climate shocks such as droughts and extreme weather to increased rates of stunting and other poor outcomes for children’s health.Associated declines in farm production affect children’s diets and health during a critical period of development, with impacts strongest for vulnerable households.Policy action to address this connection is urgently needed, including strengthening climate-resilient agriculture and improving market access.Nigeria is facing mounting climate variabilities that threaten food production, livelihoods, and child nutritional status.

Climatic change, including declining precipitation, droughts, and rising temperatures, threatens agricultural production and productivity and food security of smallholders in sub-Saharan Africa. The rainfed agriculture that smallholders rely on is inherently exposed to climate variability and change. Smallholders with low access to climate-smart agricultural technologies and limited alternative livelihood strategies are most vulnerable to climate shocks.

Formally including Ugandan women in commercial agriculture—through contract ownership or behavior-change interventions—can increase women’s empowerment without reducing productivity, and with positive spillovers for household welfare and gender relations.Estimates suggest that there are 475 million smallholder farms in low- and middle-income countries, including 43 million in sub-Saharan Africa (Lowder et al. 2016, FAO 2017).

In many agricultural markets, the limited ability to measure product quality at the source and trace it through the supply chain remains a key barrier to improvement, as the absence of reliable quality information blunts incentives for upstream actors to invest in better practices. This challenge spans a wide range of value chains, but it is especially pronounced in the dairy sector. Milk from smallholder farmers is typically pooled and transported through multiple intermediaries before reaching processors, making it difficult to observe and reward high-quality production at any stage.