Thank you for visiting our new Covid-19 Poverty Monitor. To find out more about the project, visit our blog about the project.
Areas of concern for the poorest and potential impoverishment
Partial market recovery and optimism: Among nearly half of respondents there was an expressed sense of optimism that things had improved since the last round of interviews conducted in February 2021. Most of these respondents attributed these improvements to a reduction of Covid-19 in their areas, the relaxation of restrictions allowing business to resume, and the recent harvest period which for many meant increased yields. The latest high-frequency phone survey supported by the World Bank also found improved employment opportunities; though these are mainly in rural areas which can partly be explained by normal agricultural cycles. There was however a large section of respondents who rely on farming of staple goods for their incomes that noted the market for these goods has not rebounded and is worse than this time in 2020. This finding is also supported by the World Bank high-frequency survey, which found that 43% of households reported reductions in incomes in June 2021, with Covid-19 remaining the main reason.
“Now things have improved. Unlike last time, the Covid-19 measures have been relaxed because the cases dropped, and we are now free to do business and are free to travel. But also with the harvesting period, a lot of people are involved in agri-business, buying produce, and taking them to Lilongwe and Chipata to sell.” Male respondent (52), Mchinji
“My income has increased since the government relaxed Covid-19 preventive measures. Whenever I go to do business at local markets, I make between K50,000 (US$61.54) and K100,000 ($123.09) and I use the money to order new materials for business.” Male respondent (52), Balaka
“There is an improvement in my wellbeing. I resumed my business, and I buy perfume and clothes in Zambia and sell them here. In the past, I was struggling but now things are getting better. Now I can buy food; in the past, I was getting food on credit.” Female respondent (42), Mchinji
“The last time we talked it was a difficult period. Business was not going well because of challenges in transportation due to Covid-19. We are now happy that things are now getting better. The country is opening up, and we are hopeful that things will get much better when ADMARC [the Agriculture Development and Marketing Corporation] starts buying crops from farmers.” Male respondent (52), Balaka
Agricultural yields: Harvests of major staple crops (maize, groundnuts and soybeans) took place in both locations of Balaka and Mchinji. Most respondents reliant on agriculture for household income and food security reported a significant increase in yield this year over last year. This was largely attributed to the wide distribution of subsidised fertilisers of which most respondents were beneficiaries at the beginning of the last planting season. There were however some respondents in the Balaka region that reported decreased yields this year over last due to armyworms invading their crops.
“This year I have harvested 25 bags, compared to 10 bags last year. I have harvested more this year because my husband had access to subsidised fertilizer. Last year we did not have access to subsidised fertilizer.” Female respondent (56), Mchinji
“The problem of perpetual poverty is still there but now there is a slight improvement because we have harvested our crops, so there is food we are eating.” Male respondent (65), Mchinji
“Honestly, my wellbeing has gone down. This year I did not harvest a lot because my garden was infested with armyworms. I only harvested four bags [of maize] compared to 10 the bags which I harvested last year.” Female respondent (41), Balaka
Agricultural incomes: Despite increased yields, most farming households are reporting decreases in agricultural income due to low market prices being offered for staple crops. As one respondent noted, maize prices are less than half of what they were this time last year. Some are holding off selling their production until ADMARC starts buying produce. ADMARC is a state grain marketing board that has been playing a price stabilising function to fight low and exploitative prices offered by market vendors. The challenge has been that ADMARC often enters the market late by the time which vendors have bought produce from desperate farmers at very low prices. This year there was some optimism that ADMARC would start buying produce early as promised by the new government, but it has just started doing so. There is hope that things will change from next year as they have now changed the financial year to run from 1 April to 31 March, instead of 1 July to 30 June.
“Now it is difficult for me to find money because the only way for me to make money is selling the maize that we have harvested. The problem is that the vendors are also stealing from us by offering very cheap prices.” Male respondent (63), Balaka
“The price of maize is very low such that it is hard for farmers to make profits. Right now, the price of maize is between K50 ($0.06) and K80 ($0.09) per kg. Last year it was better, we were selling at K200 ($0.24) per kg.” Female respondent (56), Mchinji
“I feel that we are still feeling the pinch of the Covid-19 pandemic. You see we are complaining of low prices of produce on the market because the market is full of vendors. For maize, the demand for the crop is low - leading to lower prices as the vendors from Zambia (who buy at good prices) are still not coming here because the borders are still closed. In addition, because many people struggled during the peak of the pandemic, we have few buyers on the market and people are not spending.” Female respondent (42), Mchinji
Overall food security: Food security appears to have improved in both locations over the last three months due to the recent harvest season. Those households that have achieved higher yields due to increased fertiliser use and good rains report positive changes to their household’s food security. However, many households are still eating less than three meals a day or eating poorer quality meals due to the persistently high prices of food items such as relish, cooking oil and meat. Many are still concerned about their household’s food security in the medium term.
“I think if I can compare my well-being in February and now, I can say that the only improvement for me is on food security. Now we have more food in the house, and we are happy. We have 120 bags of maize that means we are eating without problems.” Female respondent (42), Mchinji
“I don’t have enough maize to take me throughout the year. I harvested four bags because my garden was attacked by armyworms. The four bags I have are not enough, I will definitely run short of food by August.” Female respondent (45), Balaka
A small subset of respondents indicated that they have been coping with reduced incomes and threats to their food security by diversifying their production beyond the main staple crops.
“I was growing vegetables and cassava. I decided to grow these crops because I knew that at some point, I would sell and eat them.” Male respondent (52), Balaka
“I have enough food for the family. I cultivate maize, soya and groundnuts. This year God blessed us with good rains, so I had a good harvest. But groundnuts did not do well. I sold soya and made K70,000 ($86.17). I use the money made from soya to buy fertilizer.” Female respondent (56), Mchinji
Lack of work opportunities: Those respondents that rely on casual or day labour to supplement their incomes, or who have turned to this to cope with economic disruptions due to the Covid-19 crisis, are continuing to report fewer opportunities for these types of work since the pandemic. It was also noted among agricultural labourers that as harvest season has passed, there are fewer farm work opportunities, highlighting the precarity and seasonality of this type of work as an income source. Demand for other types of wage labour, particularly in the services sector, has been observed to have reduced since social distancing and other containment measures were introduced (Baulch, B., Botha, R., and Pauw, K., (2020) Short-term Impacts of Covid-19 on Malawian Economy: Initial Results, MASSP Report).
“With the Covid-19 pandemic, it is still difficult for me to find contracts from people. I have not found any work since we met in February until this week - somebody gave me a contract to construct a kraal for goats. So, all these months up to now I have been struggling to make money.” Male respondent (46), Balaka
There was a general appreciation expressed for the reopening of schools in February 2021. However, several households are continuing to face financial challenges by sending their children back to school. None of the respondents reported recovering income that was lost during the peak of the crisis or from the drop in livelihoods, and education is one area where some households have had to reduce expenditure.
“My child was supposed to start college education and the fees are K150,000 ($184.64) per semester but because of the income challenges I have failed to pay and told him to wait until the next semester.” Female respondent (38), Balaka
One respondent also noted that the change in the school timetable to accommodate social distancing measures in schools has caused disruptions to their productivity.
“The other challenge is that there is a disruption on the school timetable. Learners in standard three go to school at 10 am so it is hard for parents to divide their time to prepare children for school and run some errands to support the home, be it going to the farm. This implies that I can only leave home after my child has gone to school. Before Covid-19 children were going to school early in the morning, say by 7 am, and we had enough time to work in the garden.” Female respondent (43), Mchinji
Stress due to caring responsibilities: A theme that emerged in several of the second-round interviews was the stress that household heads are under to support their families – both within the household and for extended family members. Both male and female household heads talked about the challenges they’ve been facing in financially supporting their families, and the added strain this has put on them during the recent months of economic contraction.
“I think the impacts are more on me. First, I am a single mother, so the children and my family depend on me for support. When my business flops, it means I will not meet the responsibilities I have to take care of my children’s needs, meaning that my dependents are also feeling the impacts. Honestly, business was doing well before the Covid-19 pandemic, but since the pandemic started things are still bad and our financial capacity has been affected.” Female respondent (38), Balaka
“Being a man and head of the household is not a joke. This problem is heavily weighing me down as a father and provider for the whole family. Every morning the wife or kids will come to me telling me that they need money to buy something important for the home like food, salt, soap and others. So, I am affected but the family is also affected because I am failing to meet their needs like before. My children have even reached a point of telling me Dad you are not taking care of our needs and I agree and feel sorry for myself, but what can I do? Nothing.” Male respondent (46), Balaka
Programmes introduced by the Government of Malawi in response to Covid-19
As in the first round of interviews, most respondents found no support for themselves or other people in need in their communities. A small number observed government or NGO activities, but there were limited details on the nature of this support or how one might access it. One respondent who had been a cash transfer beneficiary, having been identified as poor, has not received any payment since February of this year.
“At some point, government officials and the village headman came to my house because I live with my disabled brother. They wrote his name but we have never received anything.” Female respondent (42), Mchinji
“There is an organisation that came to help people with money when Covid-19 was at the climax. I would say they were government officials conducting social protection programmes. I heard during that period people were receiving K21,000 ($25.85) every two months and the idea was to cushion them from Covid-19 economic hardships. However, I did not benefit from that as much as I was struggling.” Male respondent (52), Balaka
“The church helps needy people. Apart from that, some women are working with NGOs and take a lead in helping needy people in this community.” Female respondent (56), Mchinji
“We just heard that there is an NGO that is helping people in this community, but I have never been a beneficiary.” Male respondent (65), Mchinji
This project was made possible with support from Covid Collective.
Supported by the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the Covid Collective is based at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS). The Collective brings together the expertise of, UK and Southern-based research partner organisations and offers a rapid social science research response to inform decision-making on some of the most pressing Covid-19 related development challenges.
