Malawi Strategy Support Program

Overview

The Malawi Strategy Support Program (MaSSP), established in 2009, promotes evidence-based dialogue and decision-making among government and policy partners by providing technical and analytical support generated from rigorous research. This work is organized around four long-running themes that address issues relevant to current agricultural policy in Malawi: agricultural markets, priorities for agricultural investment, rural transformation, and social protection.

Examples of our recent policy impact include MaSSP’s membership on the Strategic Grain Reserve committee, which authorizes the use of the Reserve to stabilize prices or for humanitarian relief; technical backing of an ongoing reform of Malawi’s agricultural input subsidy program, requested by the Minister of Agriculture; a study for the National Planning Commission on using modern value chains to develop secondary cities across Malawi; and capacity building at the Ministry of Finance on modeling economic impacts of policy reforms.

MaSSP is currently co-funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Government of Flanders, and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

To learn more, visit IFPRI Malawi Website or follow us on Twitter (@IFPRIMalawi).

To subscribe to our newsletter, visit http://massp.ifpri.info/massp-mailing-list/

Links/Projects

IFPRI Malawi Website

Pluralistic Extension System in Malawi

Donors

Partners

Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Malawi

Duration

2008 – ongoing

Blogs

Photo essay: Talking to farmers in Malawi to understand how to improve agricultural cooperative performance

IFPRI Blog

December 09, 2022

Photo essay: Talking to farmers in Malawi to understand how to improve agricultural cooperative performance

By Cynthia Kazembe and Kristin Davis

Focus groups and other approaches help clarify what works.

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.

IFPRI mentorship journeys: Developing insights into consumer demand for tilapia in urban Malawi

IFPRI Blog

October 05, 2020

IFPRI mentorship journeys: Developing insights into consumer demand for tilapia in urban Malawi

By Sandra Fröbe-Kaltenbach and Cynthia Kazembe

A master's student and IFPRI researcher examine a key issue for food value chains.

News

March 28, 2023 | In the News

2023/24 fertiliser subsidy under scrutiny (The Nation)

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has projected that farmers should expect to pay as much as K37 000 to buy one bag of fertilizer under the Affordable Inputs Programme (AIP) in the 2023/24 farming season. The projection means the government will have to spend K238 billion on AIP to subsidize 1.7 million farming […]

March 16, 2023 | In the News

Malawi: Cyclone Freddy points to urgent need for climate-smart solutions in Malawi (The New Humanitarian)

The New Humanitarian, in a report about the impacts of Cyclone Freddy tearing through Malawi, mentions IFPRI in relation to the efforts the Malawian governments have undertaken “to boost the yields of rain-dependent subsistence farmers – the backbone of the economy – through subsidy programmes that provide cheap fertiliser and improved seeds.” “In seasons when the weather […]

March 16, 2023 | In the News

Diversify income, rural people told (The Nation)

The Nation (Malawi) writes in a story, “The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) says rural households will increasingly need to turn to other jobs other than in the agriculture sector to escape poverty which is hovering at 57 percent. In its analysis of employment options and challenges for rural households in Malawi, the institute […]

Events

East Africa Perspectives on the Book: Agricultural Extension – Global Status and Performance in Selected Countries

IFPRI Program/Country Event

October 28, 2020, 3:30 – 5:00 pm

East Africa Perspectives on the Book: Agricultural Extension – Global Status and Performance in Selected Countries

IFPRI Ethiopia and IFPRI Malawi are co-organizing a webinar on the recently launched IFPRI book, “Agricultural Extension: Global Status and Performance in Selected Countries“. The book, edited by Kristin Davis, Suresh Babu, and Catherine Ragasa, provides a global overview of agricultural extension and advisory services and assesses and compares extension systems at the national and regional […]

Economic Impacts of COVID-19 on Growth, Poverty and Food Systems in Malawi: Initial Results

IFPRI Program/Country Event

June 10, 2020, 3:00 – 4:30 pm

Economic Impacts of COVID-19 on Growth, Poverty and Food Systems in Malawi: Initial Results

IFPRI-Malawi is organizing a webinar on initial results undertaken by IFPRI of the modeling of the short-term economic impacts of COVID-19 in Malawi. Two scenarios are considered: (a) 2 months of social distancing plus external shocks in April/May; (b) the proposed (but not implemented) 21-day lockdown plus social distancing and external shocks, each followed by either fast or […]

Assessing and Strengthening Malawi’s Pluralistic Agricultural Extension System: Evidence and Lessons from a 3-year Research Study on Agricultural Extension

IFPRI Program/Country Event

November 13, 2019, 8:30 – 12:30 pm

Assessing and Strengthening Malawi’s Pluralistic Agricultural Extension System: Evidence and Lessons from a 3-year Research Study on Agricultural Extension

On November 13, 2019 IFPRI is organizing a project closing and dissemination event to present findings from a 3-year research study conducted by IFPRI, with funding from the Government of Flanders, CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions and Markets (PIM), GIZ, and USAID Strengthening Agricultural and Nutrition Extension (SANE). Launched in July 2016, the 3-year […]

Team members

Program Leader
IFPRI Staff

The Programs

Bangladesh Policy Research and Strategy Support Program

Improving food and nutrition security is of paramount concern to millions in Bangladesh.
China Strategy Support Program

Supports joint research & capacity strengthening as well as policy dialogues & communication to improve policymaking.
Egypt Strategy Support Program

Egypt SSP's main objective is to raise incomes of the rural poor and to improve food and nutrition security in Egypt.
Ethiopia Strategy Support Program

ESSP is a collaborative program undertaken by IFPRI and the Ethiopian Development Research Institute (EDRI)
Ghana Strategy Support Program

Conduct research & advise on policy to support agricultural growth, rural development & economic transformation.
Kenya Strategy Support Program

KSSP is a policy research, capacity strengthening and policy communication program with the main objectives to accelerate poverty reduction and to improve food security.
Malawi Strategy Support Program

This project facilitates and promotes evidence-based dialogue and decision-making in support of agricultural development, food security, and economic growth in Malawi.
Myanmar Strategy Support Program

The project supports agricultural transformation and other development policy goals by enhancing national technical, institutional, and policy analysis capacities.
Nigeria Strategy Support Program

NSSP responds to the research, analysis, and capacity needs of stakeholders in the Nigerian agricultural research and policy community.
Rwanda Strategy Support Program

Rwanda SSP is an initiative aligned with the Government of Rwanda’s vision to accelerate agricultural transformation and rural development in Rwanda.
Sudan Strategy Support Program

The Sudan Country Strategy Support Program (CSSP), with key team members based in Khartoum, can provide needed analytical support to the Government of Sudan, local and international partners.