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Background. Malnutrition arises from multifaceted causes and requires action from multiple sectors to address. Consequently, oversight and direction are said to be required to ensure that public goods and services needed to reduce malnutrition are delivered by the sectors responsible in a coordinated fashion. To do so, many countries have established cross-sectoral national nutrition coordination agencies. Objective. The performance of such agencies established recently in three African countries is evaluated to determine how critical their intersectoral coordination function is to national public efforts to reduce malnutrition. Methods. This evaluation uses qualitative information on the national institutional frameworks within which nutrition activities are carried out in Mozambique, Nigeria, and Uganda, countries with such agencies, and in Ghana, which has none. Results. None of the agencies has so far effectively carried out the three functions on which they were evaluated: cross-sectoral coordination, advocacy to sustain political commitment to address malnutrition, and resource mobilization. No cross-sectoral national nutrition initiatives are being implemented. Nutrition does not feature strategically in the master development frameworks in any country. No additional government resources have been mobilized, although international resources have been. Conclusions. The agencies have proven of limited value to the malnourished in these countries. However, cross-sectoral barriers are not the primary reason for this ineffectiveness. Rather, inability to maintain continued political commitment for efforts to address malnutrition—in short, advocacy—is the principal deficiency in performance. Cross-sectoral coordination only becomes important if malnutrition itself is treated as a politically important problem, thereby stimulating action in various sectors. ; ISI; IFPRI3 ; FCND ; PR

"Many rural Malawian households cannot reliably obtain enough food to meet their needs, even though most have access to arable land for food production. This book calls for three critical changes to promote sustainable food security in Malawi: 1) government support for a significantly more diversified and commercially oriented agriculture sector; 2) increased agricultural productivity of rural farmers; and 3) strengthened food markets."

Malawi's many smallholders rely heavily on rainfed, low-input subsistence farming to meet their food needs. Yet for most rural Malawian households, subsistence agriculture cannot consistently produce enough food to ward off hunger. Nor can they rely on the country's weak markets to buy additional food they may require or to profitably sell their agricultural products throughout the year. Government policies have long prioritized agricultural production among marginal farmers for food security rather than broader policies of economic diversification, market expansion, and growth. The book identifies crucial changes that could improve food security and, in the long term, facilitate agricultural transformation. Decades of research in Malawi are synthesized to propose policy solutions for the country's persistent food insecurity and for agricultural transformation that could drive long-term economic growth. This work should be useful to policymakers, development specialists, and others concerned with how Malawi or other countries facing similar rural economic development challenges can realize sustainable food security. ; Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Food Security in Malawi Chapter 3 Agriculture in Malawi Chapter 4 Agricultural Markets in Malawi Chapter 5 Recognizing Rural Economic Differentiation in Malawi Chapter 6 Structural Transformation of Malawi's Economy to End Hunger Chapter 7 Actions to Advance toward a Reliably Food-Secure Malawi ; PR ; IFPRI1; CRP2; 1 Fostering Climate-Resilient and Sustainable Food Supply; 2 Promoting Healthy Diets and Nutrition for all; 3 Building Inclusive and Efficient Markets, Trade Systems, and Food Industry; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance ; DSGD; PIM ; CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM)

Background and Objectives: Through Zero Hunger Strategic Reviews, national governments articulate how they can achieve the second Sustainable Development Goal targets of zero hunger and zero malnutrition by 2030. To suggest how such strategic reviews might accelerate progress towards those goals, an in-depth critical assessment was undertaken of Zero Hunger Strategic Reviews carried out between 2015 and 2019 in 13 countries in Asia and the Pacific. The appraisal focused on the conceptual frameworks used to guide the content of the processes and, secondly, on how well those involved understood the factors that drive or block policy change in their respective countries. Methods and Study Design: The qualitative study involved a desk review of: (1) all reports produced for the 13 strategic reviews; (2) guidance notes for their implementation; and (3) conceptual frameworks pertinent to them. Results: More explicit use of globally accepted conceptual frameworks would strengthen the national strategic reviews. More importantly, none considered closely the challenges that would arise as efforts are made to obtain approval for policy reforms and increased allocations of public resources to address hunger and malnutrition more effectively. Conclusions: Any recommendations from such strategic reviews will need to be assessed against competing development priorities and then planned, coordinated, and implemented effectively. While accurate technical understanding is necessary to take strategic action, the best plans to eliminate hunger and malnutrition will flounder if efforts are not also made to advocate for policy change, to build political leadership, and to hold accountable those responsible for the actions required. ; PR ; IFPRI3; 2 Promoting Healthy Diets and Nutrition for all; ISI ; DSGD

Expansion of irrigation is a recurrent objective of the agricultural development plans formulated by successive governments in Malawi. More intensive and continual use of Malawi's water and agricultural land resources is expected to increase and stabilize production of food and export crops, thereby increasing farm incomes, spurring growth in the agricultural sector, and enabling the country to more reliably meet the increasing food needs of its growing population. In addition, irrigation should allow for a more diverse set of crops to be grown throughout the year, with significant expansion desired particularly in the production of micronutrient-rich vegetables and fruit. With increasing use of irrigation across the country, Malawians will gain greater access to more food and a more diverse range of foods. The nutritional status of young children and other vulnerable groups should improve as a result. Conceptually, this nutritional argument to build support for expanding investments in irrigation in Malawi seems reasonable; however, there is little empirical evidence from Malawi or elsewhere to confirm whether irrigation improves nutritional status. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI1; CRP2; MaSSP ; DSGD; PIM ; CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM)

Undernutrition remains a major source of human suffering and an obstacle to national economic and human development in many African countries. This report investigates undernutrition's persistence, drawing on case studies of the public response to the problem in Ghana, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Uganda. Analyzing each nation's policymaking structures, political actors, understanding of undernutrition, and the timing of public responses, the author explains why none of these four nations has mounted an effective campaign to eliminate undernutrition. The author identifes several different causes of this shortcoming, with one underlying flaw in the various public responses standing out: a fundamental failure on the part of political leaders to see undernutrition as a grave problem that undermines development efforts in their nations. The author concludes that an effective response to undernutrition in these countries requires the formation of national advocacy coalitions that can raise public awareness of the problem, highlight policymakers' duty to ensure the nutrition of their citizens, and link proper nutrition to general national development. This report should serve as a resource for advocates, researchers, and others concerned with undernutrition in Africa. ; PR ; IFPRI1 ; DSGD

Poverty mapping applies models of household welfare developed from detailed household consumption and expenditure surveys to the extensive but less detailed data from national censuses. A poverty map for Malawi, developed by drawing upon information from the 1997–98 Malawi Integrated Household Survey with the 1998 Malawi Population and Housing Census, provides aggregate estimates of household welfare and poverty at a highly disaggregated level—down to the level of local government wards. Given the close association between welfare and food security in most Malawi households, such a detailed poverty map can be of considerable value to development and relief organizations, as they plan and target activities to improve the ability of poor households to cope with food scarcity. This paper assesses the value of the Malawi poverty map with reference to two activities of the World Food Programme (WFP) in Malawi: the Food for Assets and Development (FFASD) public works program and the Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping (VAM) food insecurity information generation system. First, the poverty targeting efficiency of the FFASD program is evaluated using the poverty map to determine whether the FFASD projects are preferentially located in areas where disproportionate numbers of the poor are found. This is done in part by comparing the poverty targeting efficiency of the WFP program to that of the Malawi Social Action Fund Public Works Programme projects. Second, WFP employs the VAM methodology to determine how and where to employ its resources from year to year. The potential value of the poverty map as a component of the VAM process in Malawi is then considered. The results indicate that the poverty map is an effective and objective way to geographically target projects and programs on a poverty basis in Malawi. In assessing household vulnerability to food insecurity, the poverty map serves as a useful proxy indicator of spatial variability in the ability of the population to cope with food scarcity. Poverty maps, in those countries were they are available, should be a privileged data source for undertaking any national vulnerability analyses. However, the poverty map needs to be used with complementary data to better understand the risks households face that might result in food scarcity and the actual mechanisms households use to cope with such stresses." -- Authors' Abstract ; Non-PR ; IFPRI1; Theme 5; Governance structures and policy processes; Research Methodology and Models ; FCND

Argues that the US embargo, and particularly the 1996 Helms-Burton law, has contributed to a climate of political and legal repression and is an obstacle to democratization of the political regime in Cuba. Summary in English p. 9. Helms-Burton is the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (Libertad) Act, sponsored by Senator Jesse Helms and Congressman Dan Burton.

"This paper presents the poverty analysis of the 1997 98 Malawi Integrated Household Survey. The analysis developed basic needs poverty lines, using consumption-based measures of welfare to classify households and individuals as poor and nonpoor. Because consumption data were not of uniform quality across sample households, the analysis made adjustments to derive a more accurate assessment of the incidence of poverty across the country. The analysis provides poverty and inequality estimates for Malawi's population. About 65 percent were unable to meet their basic needs, and poverty was deep and pervasive. The distribution of household welfare was loosely examined within the context of the Malawi Poverty Reduction Strategy to guide government action in helping poor households improve their own well-being." -- Authors' Abstract ; Non-PR ; IFPRI1 ; FCND

By directing increasing shares of their farm production to the market and, thereby, realizing greater incomes, farming households can accelerate local rural economic development. In this study, we examine household and spatial factors that may drive smallholder farming households in Malawi to produce and sell maize, groundnut, and soyabean. Two cross-sectional analyses are done using household level data from rounds of the Malawi Integrated Household Survey (IHS). First, using data for farming households from the fifth IHS (2019/20) in a series of weighted logistical models, we examine which of a set of household and spatial level factors are associated with a household producing each of the three crops. For maize and groundnut, we extend the analysis by similarly identifying the factors associated with whether a producing household sells any of their maize or groundnut, and if, they do, whether they sell more than half of their harvest. The second analysis consists of replicating the logistical models for production and sales using household data from the fourth IHS (2016/17) and comparing those results to the results obtained from the fifth IHS. This is done to identify whether any drivers of the production and sale of the three crops are changing over time. Overall, only a few factors are consistently associated with a farming household choosing to produce a particular crop or to sell part of their production of the crop. We also see limited changes between 2016/17 and 2019/20 in the drivers of the production and sale of these crops. However, the strength of the positive associations between landholding size and the commercial production of the three crops intensified between the two surveys. This suggests that as landholdings become smaller with continuing population growth, commercial production will increasingly be limited to those households with the largest landholdings. Government and other stakeholders in rural economic development can consider the evidence from these analyses in developing strategies to foster greater diversity in employment in rural economies across Malawi away from agriculture, while nonetheless promoting increased production by those smallholders in a position to participate profitably in the value chains for these crops. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI1; MaSSP; CRP2; 3 Building Inclusive and Efficient Markets, Trade Systems, and Food Industry ; DSGD; PIM ; CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM)

Livestock are an important element of the livelihoods of many Ugandan households, and considerable efforts at economic development by the government of Uganda have focused on the livestock sector. However, these development efforts have suffered due to a lack of detailed data on the distribution of livestock in Uganda to guide the targeting of such programs. In this paper we use data from the 2008 National Livestock Census to develop a better understanding of where in Uganda there might be potential for significant investment to intensify the production of livestock and, conversely, where there are important challenges, such as conflicts between human populations and livestock that need to be addressed. This analysis is done by developing a quantitative model to predict mean livestock stocking rates at sub-county level (n = 929) that uses population density, agroecological factors, and market access as explanatory variables. A mapping of the model residuals approach is then used to identify areas in Uganda that are relatively understocked and those that are potentially overstocked. This information is then used to suggest approaches to livestock development in both types of areas. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI1; GRP32 ; DSGD