Trapped in underdevelopment: the permanence of poverty and food insecurity in Malawi

Reviewing Malawi Government development policy documents gives the impression that poverty and underdevelopment is a permanent feature. This policy brief tracks responses to a question asked by Afrobarometer about the most important problems respondents think government should deal with.

The author highlights that food shortage has always been the number one problem identified by the public in Malawi. In this sense, he notes that the fight against hunger that started at independence has not been won. Furthermore, he finds that one other enemy Malawi has been fighting against since independence has been ill-health. One of the reasons for this is the perennial poor nutrition occasioned by the permanent food insecurity and poverty.

The document underlines that although illiteracy is still a problem, education is not consistently cited as one of the topmost problems. Still, it demonstrates that poor economic management manifested through high inflation as well as depressed economic growth has always been a general problem in Malawi.

The author concludes that the list of most important problems by importance reveals that most of the issues that feature highly relate to meeting basic needs or obtaining basic social services. Thus, as long as Malawi remains underdeveloped, the most important problems will remain basic.