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With research staff from more than 60 countries, and offices across the globe, IFPRI provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries.

researcher spotlight

Elodie Becquey

Elodie Becquey is a Senior Research Fellow in the Nutrition, Diets, and Health Unit, based in IFPRI’s West and Central Africa office in Senegal. She has over 15 years of research experience in diet, nutrition, and food security in Africa, including countries such as Burkina Faso, Chad, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, and Tanzania.

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Since 1975, IFPRI’s research has been informing policies and development programs to improve food security, nutrition, and livelihoods around the world.

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IFPRI currently has more than 600 employees working in over 80 countries with a wide range of local, national, and international partners.

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Malawi

countries and regions

Publications

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Journal Article

Transfers, information and management advice: Direct effects and complementarities in Malawi

2026Ambler, Kate; de Brauw, Alan; Godlonton, Susan
Details

Transfers, information and management advice: Direct effects and complementarities in Malawi

We examine a program designed to alleviate credit, information, and farm management constraints among smallholder cash crop farmers through transfers and a cross-randomized program offering intensive agricultural extension. We document strong complementarities between the two sets of interventions. Investment driven by increased labor expenditures, production, and consumption are highest for farmers that received both transfers and intensive extension, a pattern that persists two and three years later. In the short run, transfers alone led to the reallocation of input expenditures into increased labor for cash crop cultivation, which led to increased production of project focal crops but not total crop production. While farmers in the transfers only group continue to spend more on labor in subsequent seasons, this does not lead to changes in production or consumption, suggesting that the support of the intensive extension was important for the generation of the largest welfare gains from the transfers.

Year published

2026

Authors

Ambler, Kate; de Brauw, Alan; Godlonton, Susan

Citation

Ambler, Kate; de Brauw, Alan; and Godlonton, Susan. 2026. Transfers, information and management advice: Direct effects and complementarities in Malawi. Journal of Development Economics 178(January 2026): 103601. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2025.103601

Country/Region

Malawi

Keywords

Africa; Eastern Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Agriculture; Extension; Cash Transfers; Inputs; Smallholders; Advisory Services

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2025.103601 Source record

Project

Policies, Institutions, and Markets

Record type

Journal Article

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Working Paper

Malawi’s agrifood system: Transformation and environmental impacts

2025Diao, Xinshen; De Weerdt, Joachim; Fang, Peixun; Jones, Eleanor; Nagoli, Joseph; Pauw, Karl; Thurlow, James
Details

Malawi’s agrifood system: Transformation and environmental impacts

This paper is an update of Country Brief 8 in the series of Agrifood System Diagnostics coauthored by De Weerdt et al. (2023). The important addition from the previous country brief is a new section assessing agriculture’s environmental footprint, focusing on water use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by subsector and over time. Unlike the previous version, this brief does not include a forward-looking analysis—using IFPRI’s Rural Investment and Policy Analysis (RIAPA) model (IFPRI 2023)—of the contribution of productivity growth in agricultural value chains on agrifood transformation, employment, and socioeconomic outcomes. For a recent and extensive value chain ranking analysis that incorporates RIAPA modeling results, readers are referred to Pienaar et al. (2023). Malawi experienced slow growth in the post COVID-19 pandemic period. In addition to the economic impacts of the pandemic itself, the country suffered from high levels of public debt and a sustained balance of payments crisis. Global events such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict and adverse weather events such as Cyclone Freddy and the El Niño in 2023–2024 further prevented the Malawi economy from returning to pre-pandemic growth levels. Economic growth rates have dropped from an average of 4.1 percent in 2011–2019 to 2.2 percent since 2020 (World Bank 2025), with an average growth rate of 3.8 percent per year during 2009–2022.

Year published

2025

Authors

Diao, Xinshen; De Weerdt, Joachim; Fang, Peixun; Jones, Eleanor; Nagoli, Joseph; Pauw, Karl; Thurlow, James

Citation

Diao, Xinshen; De Weerdt, Joachim; Fang, Peixun; Jones, Eleanor; Nagoli, Joseph; et al. 2025. Malawi’s agrifood system: Transformation and environmental impacts. IFPRI Working Paper. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178668

Country/Region

Malawi

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Agrifood Systems; Environmental Impact; Value Chains; Trade

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Working Paper

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Brief

The development potential of anchor enterprise models in Malawi

2025Benson, Todd; Cockx, Lara; De Weerdt, Joachim
Details

The development potential of anchor enterprise models in Malawi

Smallholder-centered agricultural development strategies have had limited success in Malawi over the past several decades. Policy makers are now increasingly looking for alternative ways to accelerate agricultural and rural development. One emerging approach involves larger farms or agri-business firms partnering with smallholder farming households, in what we will refer to as an anchor enterprise model. Support for such partnerships is growing, but there is still little clarity on what they involve, what they aim to achieve and the conditions they need for success. Summarizing findings from a detailed report (Benson, Cockx, and De Weerdt, forthcoming). This policy note seeks to address these questions and provide guidance for future action. We structure our discussion around five questions: what the model is, when it can make sense, for whom it can work, how it can be implemented, and whether it can contribute to inclusive rural development.

Year published

2025

Authors

Benson, Todd; Cockx, Lara; De Weerdt, Joachim

Citation

Benson, Todd; Cockx, Lara; and De Weerdt, Joachim. 2025. The development potential of anchor enterprise models in Malawi. MaSSP Policy Note 54. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/178508

Country/Region

Malawi

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Development; Enterprises; Contract Farming; Farming Systems

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Source

Source record

Record type

Brief

Datasets

Dataset

Food Security Simulator – Malawi

2025International Food Policy Research Institute
Details

Food Security Simulator – Malawi

The Food Security Simulator Malawi (FSS-MWI) is an innovative and easy-to-use, MS-Excel-based tool for assessing the potential short-term impacts of food price or household income shocks, along with changes in preferences, on food security and people’s diets. The Simulator is an ideal tool for first-cut forward-looking evaluations of direct, household-level outcomes of economic crises and policy responses in a timely manner. The tool allows users to enter positive and negative price or income changes in percentage terms and provides simulated changes for a diverse set of food-consumption- and diet-quality-related indicators. In addition to detailed tabular presentations of all simulation results by household income quintile and residential area, key indicator results are summarized in concise overview tables and visualized in graphs for easy export and use in reports. The underlying data include estimates from representative household survey data and rigorous, sophisticated food demand models to capture consumer behavior.

Year published

2025

Authors

International Food Policy Research Institute

Citation

International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). 2025. Food Security Simulator – Malawi. Washington, DC: IFPRI [dataset]. https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/YOWPV9. Harvard Dataverse. Version 1.

Country/Region

Malawi

Keywords

Eastern Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Africa; Food Security; Consumer Behaviour; Diet Quality; Food Consumption; Household Surveys; Simulation Models

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.7910/dvn/yowpv9 Source record

Project

National Policies and Strategies

Record type

Dataset

Dataset

2022 Social Accounting Matrix for Malawi

2024International Food Policy Research Institute
Details

2022 Social Accounting Matrix for Malawi

The 2022 Malawi Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) follows IFPRI’s Standard Nexus SAM approach, by focusing on consistency, comparability, and transparency of data. The Nexus SAMs available on IFPRI’s website separates domestic production into 42 activities. Factors are disaggregated into labor, agricultural land, and capital, with labor further disaggregated across three education-based categories. The household account is divided into 10 representative household groups: Rural and urban households across per capita consumption quintiles. Nexus SAMs support the improvement of model-based research and policy analysis in developing countries and allow for more robust cross-country comparisons of national economic structures, especially agriculture-food systems.

Year published

2024

Authors

International Food Policy Research Institute

Citation

International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). 2024. 2022 Social Accounting Matrix for Malawi. Washington, DC: IFPRI [dataset]. https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/RX3FYD. Harvard Dataverse. Version 1.

Country/Region

Malawi

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Macroeconomic Analysis; National Accounting; Household Consumption; Household Expenditure; Taxes; Economic Indicators; Labour; Sex-disaggregated Data

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.7910/dvn/rx3fyd Source record

Project

Foresight

Record type

Dataset

Dataset

Project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index for Market Inclusion (Pro-WEAI+MI): Malawi Case Study

2024International Food Policy Research Institute
Details

Project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index for Market Inclusion (Pro-WEAI+MI): Malawi Case Study

The project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index for market inclusion (pro-WEAI+MI) is a modified version of the pro-WEAI that captures empowerment across commodity value chains (VC), VC actors, and beneficiaries of VC/training interventions. This dataset from Malawi is one of four country case studies that developed additional market inclusion (+MI) indicators to complement the pro-WEAI. The Malawi case study was conducted as part of the Agricultural Technical Vocational Education and Training for Women (ATVET4W) Program, a gender-sensitive approach to technical training and market linkages in priority agricultural value chains led by the African Union Development Agency-New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AUDA-NEPAD) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). To compare program beneficiaries versus non-beneficiaries, a household survey was collected from September to October 2019 in five districts where ATVET4W has (1) started some activities, (2) shown initial commitment from a community college, and (3) shown a high likelihood to continue with the program. These districts cover different regions (North, Central, South), agroecological zones, and socioeconomic profiles. This data package includes the pro-WEAI+MI questions implemented in Malawi, basic household and demographic information, and constructed pro-WEAI and +MI indicators.

Year published

2024

Authors

International Food Policy Research Institute

Citation

International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). 2023. Project-Level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index for Market Inclusion (Pro-weai+MI): Malawi Case Study. Washington, DC: IFPRI [Dataset]. https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/QQABTY. Harvard Dataverse. Version 1.

Country/Region

Malawi

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Gender; Women; Women’s Empowerment

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-4.0

Links

https://doi.org/10.7910/dvn/qqabty Source record

Record type

Dataset

Blogs

From participation to power: Advancing women’s leadership in rural development
IFPRI Blog
 | 
October 14, 2025

From participation to power: Advancing women’s leadership in rural development

By Katrina Kosec

On the International Day of Rural Women, IFPRI research shows avenues for empowerment.

TICAD 9: How IFPRI and Japan leverage advanced technologies, know-how, and institutional innovations to advance African development
IFPRI Blog
 | 
September 30, 2025

TICAD 9: How IFPRI and Japan leverage advanced technologies, know-how, and institutional innovations to advance African development

By Futoshi Yamauchi, Teunis van Rheenen, and Eduardo Maruyama

Insights from the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development.

Applying the Women's Empowerment Metric in National Statistical Systems (WEMNS) to build gender equity
IFPRI Blog
 | 
May 07, 2025

Applying the Women’s Empowerment Metric in National Statistical Systems (WEMNS) to build gender equity

By Emily Myers, Jessica Heckert, Hazel Malapit, Agnes Quisumbing, Flor Paz, Chiara Brunelli, and Chiara Gnetti

A tool to collect key data sometimes missing from household surveys.

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Events

The Economy-wide Impacts of School Meal Programs in Ghana and Malawi
IFPRI Program/Country Event

 | 

December 10, 2025, 10:00 – 11:00 am

The Economy-wide Impacts of School Meal Programs in Ghana and Malawi

This webinar will explore the latest global evidence on how school feeding programs drive broad-based returns: boosting education, enhancing health outcomes, supporting local agriculture, and strengthening national development as a follow-up to episode 1 of this series. The session will showcase research from Malawi and Ghana, evaluating the economy-wide impacts of both nation’s national school […]

Empowerment in Crisis: Gender-Responsive Solutions for Fragile Food Systems
IFPRI Policy Seminar

 | 

November 12, 2025, 9:00 – 10:30 am

Empowerment in Crisis: Gender-Responsive Solutions for Fragile Food Systems

Crises—whether driven by conflict, climate shocks, or economic instability—rarely affect everyone equally. Women and girls often bear the heaviest burdens, facing heightened food insecurity, disrupted livelihoods, and increased risks to their health and safety. Yet, women are not only victims of crisis—they are powerful drivers of resilience and recovery. “Empowerment in Crisis: Gender-Responsive Solutions for […]

23rd International Congress of Nutrition (ICN)
IFPRI at External Event

 | 

August 24 to 29, 2025

23rd International Congress of Nutrition (ICN)

IFPRI is participating in the 23rd International Congress of Nutrition (ICN), hosted by the International Union of Nutritional Sciences (IUNS) on August 24-29 in Paris, France.  The theme of this year’s congress is “Sustainable Food for Global Health,” bringing together experts to discuss evidence and innovations in nutrition, sustainability, food science, and public health. IFPRI […]

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News

September 12, 2024 | In the News

Tale of two villages: In Malawi, farmers point the way as drought drives hunger (WFP/AllAfrica/Relief Web)

The WFP story shared by All Africa and Relief Web quotes Jan Duchoslav and Joachim De Weerdt (IFPRI Malawi) on the food security crisis in the country.

June 13, 2024 | Statement

In Memoriam: Hon. Saulos Chilima, Vice President of Malawi

IFPRI extends sincere condolences in relation to the tragic accident that claimed lives of Dr. Chilima and fellow passengers.

July 11, 2023 | Press Release

Women key to crop success in low-income countries

This post is a slightly modified version of the original press release issued by the University of Edinburgh. Empowering women farmers in low and middle-income countries can lead to greater crop diversity helping to improve year-round supply of healthy foods, suggests a new article published in The Lancet Planetary Health by a group of authors including […]

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Projects

School Meals and School-based Actions for People and the Planet

School Meals and School-based Actions for People and the Planet

…

Economywide Risk Assessments

Economywide Risk Assessments

Developed using advanced machine learning, simulation, and data mining techniques, these country briefs provide detailed risk assessments of key economic indicators. Produced by IFPRI, the……

Developing Smart Innovations through Research in Agriculture (DeSIRA) Project

Developing Smart Innovations through Research in Agriculture (DeSIRA) Project

The Developing Smart Innovations through Research in Agriculture (DeSIRA) initiative is a five-year agricultural research project funded by the EU. Its main objective is to……

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