In Phalombe and Mulanje districts, floods sweep away crops, damage infrastructure and leave farming families struggling to recover.
Most parts of Malawi face unreliable rainfall, low yields and limited markets which consistently undermine livelihoods.
These challenges also reflect how we invest in research, manage land and water and connect farmers to better economic opportunities.
I reflected on these questions during a study trip to China’s Hunan Province with my fellow international students from 15 countries at China Agricultural University.
At the Longping Rice Museum in Changsha, I learned about scientist Yuan Longping, revered as that country’s Father of Hybrid Rice.
His pioneering research helped develop higher-yielding rice varieties that we know of today.
What impressed me was his persistence. He spent years experimenting because hunger demanded a practical solution.
His career shows that scientific progress takes patience, sustained support and a determination to turn knowledge into results that reach ordinary people.
Malawi’s universities, researchers and policymakers can learn from his example.
Research should not end with publications or short-lived pilot projects. It should deliver affordable seeds, technologies and farming practices that improve people’s lives.
The need is clear. According to Malawi’s National Census of Agriculture, 86.1 percent of farming households mainly produce for their own consumption.
On the other hand, a Mwapata Institute study found that only about 10 percent of rice producers use irrigation.
Malawi could work with Chinese agricultural institutions to test locally suitable improved and hybrid food crop varieties, train farmers and strengthen seed systems.
Yet seeds alone are not enough. Water, soil conditions, affordability and markets also matter.
At the Ziquejie Rice Terraces in Xinhua County, we saw how generations of farmers have cultivated steep mountain slopes. Water conserved in forests and mountain soils flows through natural channels to terraced fields, largely without mechanical pumping.
The system is a testament to indigenous knowledge, collective management and the close relationship between agriculture and environmental conservation.
The landscape reminded me of southern and northern Malawi.
Mudslides and floods caused by Cyclone Freddy in March 2023 exposed how extreme rainfall, degraded catchments and fragile infrastructure can devastate communities and farmland.
This is not to say that Malawi should simply copy and paste Ziquejie’s terraces. Our geography and risks differ, but the experience challenges us to look beyond repeated disaster relief and invest in lasting solutions.
Where technically suitable, catchment restoration, carefully designed terraces, soil conservation and gravity-fed irrigation could make farming more resilient.
These require scientific assessment, government support and community participation. Landslide-prone areas would still need protective measures and safer land-use planning.
The lesson is not to resign to the familiar environmental challenges, but to confront them with suitable engineering, stronger institutions and long-term planning.
My third lesson was that rice is more than a grain.
At Changsha’s Rice Noodles Street, rice supports restaurants, processing businesses, tourism and jobs. Processing and branding add value beyond the harvest is a winning formula.
Malawi has similar potential in rice, maize, cassava and groundnuts. Food crop produce could benefit from stronger quality control, packaging and branding. Cooperatives and youth-led enterprises could expand milling, storage, food processing and marketing, allowing farmers to participate in profitable stages of the value chain instead of selling unprocessed harvests.
Hunan also showed how agricultural landscapes and cultural heritage can attract visitors. With careful planning, community-based agritourism could provide additional rural income.
Three priorities stand out: practical agricultural research, sustainable irrigation and environmental management, and industries that turn harvests into jobs and higher incomes.
Government, universities, businesses and farming communities must work together.
As a Malawian development studies scholar, I am convinced that our country has immense agricultural potential. The task is to adapt these lessons into practical solutions that improve farmers’ livelihoods.
