IFPRI Malawi on the 5th of May 2021 held a virtual discussion of the recently launched Global Food Policy Report (GFPR), IFPRI’s flagship publication. The report which reviews major food policy issues, developments, and decisions of the previous year, focuses on the critical lessons learned in the COVID-19 pandemic and on opportunities for transforming our food systems to be more resilient, sustainable, and inclusive. The key remarks were given by Dr. Jemimah Njuki, Director for Africa, and Dr. John McDermott, Director of CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH) while the panelists were Dr. Rodwell Mzonde, Director of Planning at the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MoAFS), Dr. Joseph Nagoli, Director of Knowledge and Learning at the National Planning Commission (NPC) and Ms. Pamela Kuwali, CEO of the Civil Society Agriculture Network (CISANET).
To start off the discussions, Dr. Njuki gave a broad overview of the report. According to Dr. Njuki, the pandemic came at a time when food systems were already struggling, and its impact has been an increase in poverty rates especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. COVID-19 has also disproportionally affected the poor, women, and children. There was also a higher increase of poverty in urban areas compared to rural areas because, in a lot of cases, rural areas rely on subsistence agriculture which experienced few disruptions. Dr. Njuki concluded that the pandemic has provided an opportunity to transform how we work together to improve food systems, and it would be prudent to use the lessons learned from the pandemic to build back better.
In his remarks, Dr. McDermott echoed Dr. Njuki in saying that COVID-19 exacerbated inequality by disproportionately affecting the poor. He noted that as a result, the number of people who could not afford a healthy and nutritious diet increased by 10% globally during the pandemic, but that countries with well-functioning social protection programs were best able to respond to this challenge. It is therefore important, according to Dr. McDermott, to support low- and middle-income countries in strengthening their social protection programs to enable them to look after the needs of the poor and thus improve their resilience to future shocks.
From the perspective of the MoAFS, Dr. Mzonde agreed that policy makers should push for the creation of resilient food systems. While the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA) with support from the donor community has played a key role in supporting households that suffered a loss of livelihood, it is necessary to plan for future shocks to ensure the immediate availability of resources when they are needed. He also noted that food supply chains are critical for Malawi and need to be strengthened through agricultural commercialization to ensure resilience in pandemics. He acknowledged that the report is relevant for the MoAFS, some of the issues in the Malawi Agricultural Policy align with the GFPR, and what is needed is enhanced implementation of these strategies.
Dr. Nagoli added to the discussion by noting how the COVID-19 Pandemic exposed Malawi’s weakness in its infrastructure and in its ability to respond to emergencies. He shared that the NPC is currently drafting a COVID-19 Social Recovery Plan to improve the speed with which the country can recover from shocks. The Social Recovery Plan will address agricultural productivity, human capital development, and the digital economy among other issues.
After summarizing her understanding of the report, Ms. Kuwali added that in the Malawian context, it is important to climate-proof agriculture to ensure the resilience of food systems and to strengthen investments that will reverse the decline of agricultural GDP. She also emphasized the need to enforce coordination between public, private, and academic sectors in strengthening food systems.
Some of the questions that were raised by participants included how the resilience of food cash crop exports can be achieved if international supply chains are again disrupted in the future. In responding to this, Dr. Mzonde highlighted the need for increased productivity which can only be achieved with a move to irrigated agriculture as opposed to continued dependence on rain-fed agriculture. Dr. Nagoli also added to this by suggesting the need for diversification of crops and livestock as well as coming up with proper marketing strategies and improving structured markets for agricultural commodities.
In giving the final remarks of the event, Dr. Bob Baulch, IFPRI’s outgoing country program leader, reiterated that the impact of COVID-19 has been varied across populations, groups, and sectors. He highlighted that the pandemic offers opportunities for transforming Malawi’s food system like transforming agriculture value chains and using digital technologies and innovations in agricultural commercialization. There is a great opportunity to build back better for food systems that are resilient, sustainable, and inclusive.
