REASONS WHY POVERTY EXISTS IN MALAWI

According to (Chen, 2024), “Poverty refers to the state or condition in which people or
communities lack the financial resources and other essentials for a minimum standard of leaving
as such they cannot meet their basic needs”. Poverty stricken people and families might go
through a series of challenges such as poor housing, lack of access to clean water, lack of health
foods and poor medical attention. Malawi is one of the countries that has experienced poverty for
the longest time as poverty is a social economic condition that’s results from multiple factors,
hence this essay will explore some of the reasons as to why poverty exists in Malawi.

One of the reasons why poverty exists in Malawi is due to the fact that Malawi is a landlocked
country. This means that Malawi is a country that does not have any coastlines or access to
oceans hence it cannot directly use ships which is the most common way for other countries to
export and import goods. Hence this means that Malawi faces a challenge of limited trade access,
as Malawi relies on neighboring countries like Mozambique, Zambia, and Tanzania for access of
ports(Why Malawi is poor, 2023).Due to Malawi being a landlocked country it means that goods
that needs to be exported must first travel overland, which can be more expensive and time-
consuming.

Being landlocked also makes it more difficult for Malawi to engage in international trade. Hence
this limits opportunities for economic growth and reduces the opportunities for economic growth
and reduces the potential for attracting foreign investments which could create job opportunities
for different individuals and improve their living standards (Benson, 2021).

The other reason as to why poverty exists in Malawi is due to that majority of the population
depends on subsistence agriculture. Subsistence agriculture is a type of farming where farmers
grow food primarily for their own consumption rather than for sale in market. Subsistence
farming practiced in Malawi depend mainly on rainfall hence fails to provide food security due
to weather changes and poor soil fertility, this causes many families to face long periods of food
scarcity (Fatima, 2024).This can lead to malnutrition and health issues, leading to poverty among
people in the country.

Subsistence farming also fails in Malawi due to lack of access to resources such as limited inputs
whereby farmers often lack access to modern agriculture tools, fertilizers and seeds that could
help increase productivity hence sufficient food for all. Without these resources they cannot
improve their yields hence poverty will arise which will cause death of people due to hunger
(Tiyeni, 2016).Malawi also experiences limited income opportunities because families are more
focused on growing food crops for themselves only and they do not produce extra crops that can
be sold to earn income that could help them in providing basic needs for their day to day living,
educating their children and enable them to improve their living conditions.

The other reason why poverty exist in Malawi is that government regulations make it challenging
to do business or create jobs (Why Malawi is Poor, 2023). For instance the Malawi 2063 points
out that Malawi has challenges with challenges over regulations on matters such as obtaining
business license is usually a challenge and a long process since it requires different permits from
various agencies and leaders.

On the same not people also fail to start businesses due to high cost of doing business such as
expensive loans (Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2023). If
someone wants to start a business or boots an already existing business they often face high-
interest rates which means they have to pay back a lot more than they borrowed making it harder
for them to succeed in business this makes a lot of them to fail hence they are entrapped in
poverty.

Lack of skilled laborers also results to poverty and failed businesses. People who lack proper
education and training cannot be able to run a business this is because they lack competence
hence in Malawi workers who are competent enough are few hence businesses fail. It also makes
it hard for businesses to grow and fail to create more job opportunities for other people many
people struggle to earn money which leads to higher levels of poverty.

Poverty is seen to exist in Malawi due to diseases as poverty and diseases goes hand in hand.
Diseases are challenging problems for Malawi citizens which leads to poverty. For example
when a family member gets sick, other members often have to sell their belongings, with draw
school fees payments just to pay bills for the sick they even go as far as going to bed with empty
stomach (Bowie, 2006). Hence it makes individuals who drop out of school due to lack of fees
this makes them to be incompetent and they cannot get employed due to lack of qualifications
and this can lead to poverty as they can fail to provide basic needs for their family and selves
because they do not have a job.
Due to sickness people may result to missing work, cannot attend school as well thereby leading
to loss of income because when people are not working they will be earning less money which
can make it hard for them to affect bills such as food, shelter and health care services. Poverty
also leads to sickness because usually people who are living in poverty have poor living
conditions such as lack of clean water, and inadequate nutrition which increases the chances of
them getting sick.

The last reason on why poverty exists in Malawi is due to the reason that Malawi lacks global
investment, which makes it to struggle to grow its markets (World Bank, 2018) Global
investment refers to money and resources that come from foreign countries and invest in local
businesses and infrastructure. This investment is important for developing countries such as
Malawi as it enables the creation of jobs,bulding infrastructures such as roads, and schools
without this investment there will be no economic growth hence poverty.

Due to lack of global markets businesses in Malawi struggle to grow this is because they may not
have enough money to expand these businesses as well as hiring more workers to do different
tasks. Hence when the businesses fail to grow the economy does not grow either this leads to
fewer job opportunities and lower income opportunities leading to poverty.

Not only has that without global investments Malawi faces economic consequences such as
reduced export earnings which limits Malawi’s ability to import essential goods and services
from other countries (World Bank, 2018). This results to economic instability due to reduced
foreign earnings hence when the economy is affected it leads to poverty because the government
and other sectors can employ a few people leading to lack of jobs.

Although poverty still exists in Malawi there are a number of ways that can help to deal with it
such as enhancing agricultural productivity by investing in better farming methods and
techniques and technologies which in turn brings more yields because they are faster and
reliable, but also providing quality seeds and fertilizers can boots agricultural products.

Another solution is by improving education access and quality poverty can be reduced whereby
people especially those from rural areas have to be civic educated on the importance of education
and its relation to poverty as well people will be willing to participate in education

In conclusion the points above have explained some of the reasons why poverty exists in Malawi
References

Bowie, C.(2006).poverty and health in Malawi. MALAWI MEDICAL JOURNAL;18 (1 ): 5 - 12

Benson, T. (2021). Disentangling food security from subsistence agriculture in Malawi. Food
and agriculture organization of United Nations. Retrieved from https://www.fao.org/family-
farming/detail/en/c/1411644/

Chen, J. (2024). What Is Poverty? Meaning, Causes, and How To Measure. Investopedia.
Retrieved from from https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/poverty.asp

Fatima, H.(2024).Challenges of Doing Business in Malawi (and How to Overcome Them!).

Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. ( 2023). Poverty and hunger are
a daily reality for many people. Retrieved from https://www.bmz.de/en/countries/malawi/social-
situation

Tiyeni,(2016).80% of Malawi's population depends on rainfed subsistence agriculture. Retrieved

World Bank Group, Malawi Systematic Country Diagnostic: Breaking the Cycle of Low Growth
and Slow Poverty Reduction (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2018).
Why is Malawi poor. (2022). Orant charities Africa. Retrieved from
https://orantcharitiesafrica.org/why-is-malawi-poor