Climate change is making it harder to reduce poverty in Malawi
Sep 19th 2019KAMWENDOLIKE MOST Malawians, Wema Kaloti lives off the land. She grows maize on her family plot in Kamwendo, a village in the south of the country. But farming is getting harder as rainfall grows erratic. “Sometimes a lot, sometimes a little,” she says, glancing at the sky. Yields have dwindled. A hectare that once produced 20 sacks of maize now brings in seven. “There is not enough to sustain ourselves.”Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world. GDP per capita is lower in just five others. Fully 71% of Malawians earn less than the international poverty level of $1.90 per day. Most of the labour force works in agriculture. Improving Malawians’ lot, therefore, depends on making farming more productive or developing better ways of making a living. Both tasks are made more difficult by climate change.Choose us for news analysis that respects your time and intelligenceSubscribe to The EconomistWe filter out the noise of the daily news cycle and analyse the trends that matterWe give you rigorous, deeply researched and fact-checked journalism. That’s why Americans named us their most trusted news source in 2017Available wherever you are—in print, digital and, uniquely, in audio, fully narrated by professional broadcastersThis website adheres to all nine of NewsGuard‘s standards of credibility and transparency.ORContinue reading this articleRegister with an email address