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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.

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researcher spotlight

Samuel Benin

Samuel Benin is the Acting Director for Africa in the Development Strategies and Governance Unit. He conducts research on national strategies and public investment for accelerating food systems transformation in Africa and provides analytical support to the African Union’s CAADP Biennial Review.

Where we work

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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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Development Strategies and Governance

Joachim De Weerdt

Senior Research Fellow / Program Leader

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Joachim De Weerdt

Bio

Joachim De Weerdt is a Senior Research Fellow and Program Leader in IFPRI’s Development Strategies and Governance Unit. He is currently based in Lilongwe, where he heads IFPRI’s Malawi Country Office, engaging in research and outreach activities to support evidence-based policymaking, while building in-country capacity. He has published extensively on topics related to poverty, agricultural and rural development, internal migration, urbanization, social networks, early childhood development and survey methodology. Before joining IFPRI, Joachim was an associate professor at the Institute of Development Policy, University of Antwerp, and a senior research fellow at the LICOS Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance, KU Leuven. He also co-founded Economic Development Initiatives (EDI), a research firm based in Tanzania, where he served as research director for more than 10 years. During that time, EDI grew from a small, two-person start-up to a sustainable, internationally recognized research institute. Joachim holds a PhD in economics from KU Leuven, Belgium.

Publications

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Publications

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Working Paper

Fertilizer subsidies in Malawi: From past to present

2024Benson, Todd; De Weerdt, Joachim; Duchoslav, Jan; Masanjala, Winford
Details

Fertilizer subsidies in Malawi: From past to present

Malawi has been at the center of the debate on agricultural input subsidies in Africa ever since it significantly expanded its fertilizer subsidy program about two decades ago. When it did so, Malawi was a trailblazer, receiving international attention for seemingly leveraging the subsidy program to move the country from a situation characterized by food deficits and widespread hunger to crop production surpluses. In this paper we trace the history of Malawi’s subsidy program over the past 70 years, describing how the country arrived at that watershed moment earlier this century and how the subsidy program has developed since. We show how donor support for the program has wavered and how external pressure to remove the subsidy has repeatedly been unsuccessful. We also demonstrate how over the years the program’s total fiscal burden has fluctuated significantly. However, we find that since the expansion of the subsidy program in 2004, the fiscal costs of the program have shown little correlation with the maize harvest that same agricultural season. We show that the subsidy program has succeeded in raising awareness about the value of the fertilizer for increased crop productivity. However, despite its continued prominence in the country’s agricultural policy, most Malawian smallholder do not manage to grow sufficient maize to feed their households throughout the year, and every year millions depend on food assistance during the worst months of the lean season.

Year published

2024

Authors

Benson, Todd; De Weerdt, Joachim; Duchoslav, Jan; Masanjala, Winford

Citation

Benson, Todd; De Weerdt, Joachim; Duchoslav, Jan; and Masanjala, Winford. 2024. Fertilizer subsidies in Malawi From past to present. MaSSP Working Paper 44. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/138880

Country/Region

Malawi

Keywords

Africa; Sub-saharan Africa; Eastern Africa; Fertilizers; Subsidies; Maize; Food Security

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

National Policies and Strategies

Record type

Working Paper

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Working Paper

Welfare impacts of seasonal maize price fluctuations in Malawi

2024Chiwaula, Levison; Weerdt, Joachim de; Duchoslav, Jan; Goeb, Joseph; Gondwe, Anderson; Jolex, Aubrey
Details

Welfare impacts of seasonal maize price fluctuations in Malawi

Maize prices fluctuate significantly throughout the year in Malawi, creating winners and losers depending on who is selling and who is buying the staple at different times. We link maize market price data to nationally and temporally representative household survey data on maize sales and purchases to quantify welfare gains and losses throughout the year. A stable maize price would lead to only a modest increase in Malawi’s total social surplus when summed across a whole year, but a dramatic reduction in hunger during the lean season. We discuss policy options to smooth maize prices throughout the year.

Year published

2024

Authors

Chiwaula, Levison; Weerdt, Joachim de; Duchoslav, Jan; Goeb, Joseph; Gondwe, Anderson; Jolex, Aubrey

Citation

Chiwaula, Levison; De Weerdt, Joachim; Duchoslav, Jan; Goeb, Joseph; Gondwe, Anderson; and Jolex, Aubrey. 2024. Welfare impacts of seasonal maize price fluctuations in Malawi. MaSSP Working Paper 45. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/139137

Country/Region

Malawi

Keywords

Eastern Africa; Africa; Data Analysis; Economics; Households; Maize; Market Prices; Surveys

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

National Policies and Strategies

Record type

Working Paper

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Opinion Piece

El Niño: Malawi’s harvest of its staple food maize may fall by 22.5% this year

2024De Weerdt, Joachim; Arndt, Channing; Thurlow, James; Duchoslav, Jan; Glauber, Joseph W.; You, Liangzhi; Anderson, Weston
Details

El Niño: Malawi’s harvest of its staple food maize may fall by 22.5% this year

Maize is the preferred staple of most of southern Africa. In Malawi it supplies two-thirds of national calorie intake. Nine out of 10 farming households produce maize and devote over 70% of their land to growing it. Most farming households are vulnerable to the rainfall patterns. Over 90% of farming households in the country rely solely on rain to irrigate their maize plants. We looked at possible weather pattern changes driven by El Niño – an unusual warming of surface waters in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean – and their impact on maize production in Malawi. We did this by developing a model from historical district crop data and El Niño events since the 1980s. Econometric modelling, which uses statistics and mathematics, is useful in studying the cause and effect of relationships, in the case of weather patterns. Historically, two out of every three El Niño events have coincided with reduced maize harvests of, on average, 22.5%.

Year published

2024

Authors

De Weerdt, Joachim; Arndt, Channing; Thurlow, James; Duchoslav, Jan; Glauber, Joseph W.; You, Liangzhi; Anderson, Weston

Citation

De Weerdt, Joachim; Arndt, Channing; Thurlow, James; Duchoslav, Jan; Glauber, Joseph; You, Liangzhi; and Anderson, Weston. El Niño: Malawi’s harvest of its staple food maize may fall by 22.5% this year. The Conversation online editorial. First published online January 28, 2024. https://theconversation.com/el-nino-malawis-harvest-of-its-staple-food-maize-may-fall-by-22-5-this-year-221349

Country/Region

Malawi

Keywords

Africa; Eastern Africa; El Niño; Maize; Households; Harvesting

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open AccessCC-BY-ND-4.0

Source

Source record

Project

Foresight

Record type

Opinion Piece

Blogs

Responding to Malawi’s impending food crisis
IFPRI Blog
 | 
May 31, 2024

Responding to Malawi’s impending food crisis

By Jan Duchoslav, Mazvita Chiduwa, Simon Denhere, Joachim De Weerdt, Rodwell Mzonde, and George Phiri

Food imports can make up for shortages if quick action is taken.

Act now to address Malawi’s looming food crisis
IFPRI Blog
 | 
April 12, 2024

Act now to address Malawi’s looming food crisis

By Jan Duchoslav, Joachim De Weerdt, and Rodwell Mzonde

Harvest shortfalls caused by severe drought conditions.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threatens food security in Malawi. How can the country respond?
IFPRI Blog
 | 
April 27, 2022

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threatens food security in Malawi. How can the country respond?

By Joachim De Weerdt and Jan Duchoslav

The poor are particularly vulnerable to rising prices of food, vegetable oils, and fertilizers.

Events

Implications of El Niño 2023/24 for Africa South of the Sahara
IFPRI Policy Seminar

 | 

November 29, 2023, 7:30 – 9:00 am

Implications of El Niño 2023/24 for Africa South of the Sahara

Virtual Event: November 29, 2023 at 7:30am-9:00am EST. IFPRI in collaboration with USAID FEWS NET and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, is hosting a presentation on the potential impact of the upcoming El Niño on the global agrifood system, with special emphasis on low-income countries in Africa South of the Sahara. The event will be organized around four short talks.

Malawi Discussion of IFPRI’s 2022 Global Food Policy Report: Climate Change and Food Systems
Series/Special Event

 | 

June 14, 2022, 10:00 – 12:00 pm

Malawi Discussion of IFPRI’s 2022 Global Food Policy Report: Climate Change and Food Systems

Virtual Event: June 14, 2022 – 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM EDT. The Malawi launch event will give an overview of the main findings and recommendations of the global report and focus on two chapters that are particularly relevant to the Malawi context.

Research

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