Malawi can end hunger after the 2025 elections if bold steps are taken to transform food systems

De Weerdt, Joachim; Chirwa, Gowokani Chijere; Duchoslav, Jan; Nagoli, Joseph; and Cockx, Lara. 2025. Malawi can end hunger after the 2025 elections if bold steps are taken to transform food systems. The Conversation. Article published September 14, 2025. https://doi.org/10.64628/AAJ.yyj5xdcek

Malawi has a history of peaceful democratic transitions. Since the advent of multiparty politics in 1994, power has regularly shifted between rival parties. Citizens and institutions have upheld electoral democratic norms, from respecting term limits to rerunning elections after irregularities.

Yet, democratic elections haven’t translated into economic prosperity, nor into strong economic institutions. Malawi remains the world’s poorest conflict-free nation. At the last count in 2019, 70% of Malawians lived below the international poverty line of US$2.15 per day. More than half of Malawi’s residents are deprived in many, overlapping ways.