Historical Dictionary of Malawi Part 3

However, all this changed in the second half of the 18th century with the arrival of new immigrants, which altered the cultural mix of northern Malawi. These were the Balowoka, or those who "crossed over" Lake Malawi from Tanzania. Mlowoka Gondwe, leader of this small group of traders, sought alliances of friendship that in the end enabled him to expand the incipient ivory trade and promote long-distance trade. Aligning himself with local leaders and marrying into the most powerful clan, the Luhanga, Mlowoka soon established economic control over the HengaNkhamangaPhoka areas. He secured his economic position by placing his compatriots along this ivory trade route, which extended from eastern Zambia to Lake Malawi. Oral tradition suggest that Mlowoka's sphere remained economic and did not develop into a political hegemony.

However, at Mlowoka's death in the early 19th century, his son usurped the succession line from the Luhangas, and from this point is dated the beginning of the Chikulamayembe line. The new authority followed Luhanga administrative patterns and allowed the local judicial system to continue. The Chikulamayembes established no bureaucracy and no army in the area; in fact, their subordinate rulers were given a significant measure of autonomy. Although economically powerful, the dynasty exercised political leadership only in Nkhamanga, just east of modern Rumpi boma.

Farther north, in present-day Karonga and Chitipa districts, the political structure in the pre-circa 14,000 period was clan based. There was no form of centralized leadership; instead, along the Karonga lakesh.o.r.e, authority was religious and exercised through a snake cult. Even when the Simbowe established themselves at Mbade Hill in the 15th century, attaining the respect of the indigenous peoples and a.s.suming political control of the area, the clans retained some independence. The Simbowe seem to have been selling ivory to an east coast network (in the 15th to 17th centuries) when the Portuguese were in command of the coast. Their successors, the Kyungu, originated from Ukinga in southwestern Tanzania, and around 1600 successfully plotted the death of the Simbowe leader, wresting power from the trader family. The Kyungu were to rule the Ngonde until Nyasaland became a British colony.

At about the time the Kyungu were forging the Ngonde kingdom, two polities emerged in Ulambya and Misuku in present-day Chitipa, specifically in the areas of the Lambya/Nyiha and Sukwa, respectively. The region between Ulambya and the Nyika plateau was inhabited by Nyiha-speaking peoples, but no central authority emerged until the 18th century when the Kaonga and Kayira, both from modern Tanzania, founded the Ntalire and Wenya.

Nineteenth-Century Incursions In the 19th century, the inhabitants of the Lake Malawi region witnessed the arrival of the Yao, Ngoni, and Swahili-Arabs, all of whom were prepared to take power from existing authorities by violence where they met resistance. The Yao moved from their nuclear area in northern Mozambique when they were attacked by the Makua-Lomwe (Lolo) peoples, their neighbors to the east. Furthermore, a severe famine aggravated Yao life, causing them to flee to southern Malawi. The Yao were established long-distance traders, having bartered with those from the east coast since the early 1700s. At Mozambique and Kilwa, the Yao had traded with the Portuguese, Indians, Arabs, and French; ivory was the desired item of exchange followed by others including beeswax and tobacco, all of which were exchanged mainly for cloth. In fact, the Yao were the princ.i.p.al middlemen in the commercial region, which stretched from the Mozambican coast in the east to the Bisa country east of Luangwa Valley in modern Zambia. Their involvement in the slave trade was a much later development and remained subsidiary to their ivory commerce.

Small groups of Yao traders conducted their business in the southern Malawi villages before midcentury but, after 1860, they arrived in the region in greater numbers. As conflicts between the different Yao groups increased and the Ngoni exerted pressure on peoples of northern Mozambique, more Yao fled southwestward, into the southern Malawi lakesh.o.r.e and Shire Highlands, homeland of the Nyanja/Mang'anja, who lived in small villages each led by a chief. By the late 1860s, most of the area east of the Shire River had fallen under Yao authority. Many of the Yao were involved in the ivory trade, some were more interested in the slave trade, and yet others actively partic.i.p.ated in both forms of commerce. Among the latter were Makanjira, Mponda, Kawinga, and Matapwiri, all heads of powerful chiefdoms, and between them they dominated the commerce of the east coast and the interior.

Through their a.s.sociation with the Swahili-Arabs, many, but not all, Yao embraced Islam. When European Christian missionaries arrived in Malawi in the 19th century, Yao chiefs permitted mission stations to be built in their areas. The missionaries hoped to lure the Yao into their sphere of influence, but Commissioner Harry H. Johnston (1890s) was intent on "pacifying" the Yao, ending their opposition to the European intrusion, and curbing Yao commercial activities, including the slave trade. In 1896, after five years of war, Johnston in fact broke the Yao dominance of commerce in the area.

The Ngoni had preceded the Yao into Malawi by several decades. In about 1819, two groups of Ngoni fled the powerful Zulu king Shaka and migrated north, crossing the Zambezi River in the 1830s. One group, the Jere Ngoni, was led by Zw.a.n.gendaba and his successor M'Mbelwa; the second group, the Maseko Ngoni, was headed by Mputa and later by Chikusi and Chidyawonga. Both the Jere and Maseko Ngoni were highly organized politically and militarily, and both plundered and captured people during their northern trek.

The Maseko Ngoni first entered the Dedza district of Malawi in the 1830s and then proceeded south to the Shire Valley and east of Lake Malawi to Songea, Tanzania. After Mputa's death, his brother Chidyawonga returned to southern Malawi (1860s) and settled in Chewa country. The Ngoni adopted the Chewa language, while the Chewa imitated many Ngoni customs and Chewa men joined Ngoni military regiments. Chikusi, son of Mputa, succeeded as chief when his uncle Chidyawonga died. The Maseko were undecided over whether Chikusi or Chifisi (Chidyawonga's son) should reign. As a result, there became two lines of succession: today Chikusi's successor is Gomani III and Chifisi's descendant chieftain is Kachindamoto II.

Zw.a.n.gendaba led his Jere Ngoni into what is today Lilongwe district, raiding and terrifying the local inhabitants. Upon his hearing rumors of cattle herds to the north, Zw.a.n.gendaba directed his followers to an area south of Lake Tanzania. After his death (c. 1848) there was a dispute over succession; subsequently, some Ngoni moved north and others migrated east. But the main body traveled south and settled in Malawi, in the area between the Henga Valley and southern Viphya. In about 1857, Mhlahlo M'Mbelwa became inkosi (paramount chief) of the Jere Ngoni. Under his rule (185791), both Tonga and Tumbuka peoples were subjugated.

The Chikulamayembe were unable to resist the superior military organization of the Ngoni. Some accommodation occurred, however, as Tumbuka headmen and Tumbuka religion were permitted to continue. With further a.s.similation, the Tumbuka and Ngoni intermarried and the Ngoni, like so many other groups before them, also adopted the local language. Although neither the Tonga nor the Tumbuka relished being integrated into the Ngoni state, their attempts at revolt (187480) were not very successful. Only the imposition of British rule restricted the activities of the Ngoni. However, even with the establishment of the British Protectorate in 1891, the country of the northern Ngoni was not annexed and they did not pay taxes to the new colonial government. In 1904, the Ngoni agreed to accept British rule, in part because of the ameliorating effects of Scottish missions on Ngoni life. Today's, descendants of the sons of Zw.a.n.gendaba hold chiefly offices in the name of M'mbelwa, Mabulabo, Mperembe, Mtwalo, Mzukuzuku, Chinde, and Mzikubola.

The third group that moved into Malawi in the 19th century was the Swahili-Arabs. Swahili traders arrived in northern Malawi just prior to the coming of the Ngoni. In the 1840s, the Jumbe, Salim bin Abdallah, brought an impressive number of guns and ammunition when he and his retinue made Nkhotakota an eastwest commercial center. Both the Chewa and Tonga sought alliances with these well-armed representatives of the Sultan of Zanzibar to fend off the Ngoni. When the European missionaries arrived in the 1870s, they abhorred, but tolerated, the Jumbe's trade in slaves. The British took more direct action in 1894 when they deposed the last Jumbe and sent him to Zanzibar. In the early 1880s, another Swahili-Arab trader, Mlozi bin Kazbadema, established himself at Karonga, which he used as a base for his ivory business. Karonga had also just become the major station for the African Lakes Company. Conflict between them was inevitable, especially after the Ngonde complained of Swahili-Arab hara.s.sment and appealed to the African Lakes Company and the British for a.s.sistance. In 1889, Harry Hamilton Johnston, the British consul general, attempted to negotiate an end to the conflict, but the terms of the treaty were largely ignored. Finally, in 1895, with 400 troops as reinforcements, Johnston destroyed Mlozi's stockade; Mlozi was captured, tried, and executed.

Europeans were another group to enter and settle in Malawi in the 19th century. Although the Portuguese were the first Europeans to visit Malawi in about 1616, and even though the Universities' Mission to Central Africa (UMCA) had briefly operated in the Shire Highlands in the 1860s, it was only after the death of Dr. David Livingstone in 1873 at Chitambo, Zambia, that many of them turned their attention to the Lake Malawi region. First to arrive were Scottish Presbyterian missionaries who established centers in the south and north of Malawi. The Dutch Reformed Church, Anglicans (UMCA), Catholics, Baptists, and others followed. By the early 1890s, there were also a significant number of Europeans in the area to farm and conduct other business.

From Protectorate to Nation Although traders, planters, and missionaries were in the region of Malawi, it was not until 1891 that a Protectorate was declared by the British. Called British Central Africa, the Protectorate was administered by Harry Johnston who was appointed commissioner and consul-general. Certainly the British did not rush to add this overseas possession to their empire, but, increasingly, Great Britain felt obliged to protect the missionaries, traders, and early settlers from other European powers, namely the Germans and Portuguese, who were players in the "scramble for Africa."

Harry Johnston spent the next five years establishing British authority in the area. He led several military expeditions against slavers and local chieftains in order to a.s.sert British paramountcy. In addition to administering these territories, Johnston would also exercise authority over lands chartered by the British South Africa Company. The Scottish missionaries, operating in the Shire Highlands following the death of David Livingstone, and the traderplanter communities had exercised their own "administrative powers" for many years but were now subordinate to British rule and Commissioner Johnston. Prior to 1895, when the British Treasury a.s.sumed full financial responsibility of British Central Africa, Johnston had little money with which to accomplish all he did. During his brief tenure, he ended the slave trade and set up the administrative infrastructure for governing the Protectorate. He gathered together an effective staff: Alfred Sharpe, John Nicoll, C. A. Edwards, William Manning, as well as a small number of civil servants who were responsible for taxes, public works, customs, and postal services.

Johnston left the territory in 1897, and his deputy, Alfred Sharpe, succeeded him. During the administrative reign of the colorful Sharpe, the name of the Protectorate was changed to Nyasaland. The Order in Council of 1907 also changed the commissionership to a governorship, creating an Executive Council of three senior officials (European) and a Legislative Council (LEGCO) consisting of nominated nongovernment members (European planters, traders, and missionaries). This would remain the const.i.tutional basis for the central government of Nyasaland until after World War II, with changes occurring in numbers or composition, most notably the addition of one Indian and two African representatives to LEGCO in 1949. Until then, governors seeking African opinion had to rely on their district commissioners-missionaries-one of whom, a member of LEGCO, was to represent African interests or the Native a.s.sociations.

The first Welfare/Native a.s.sociation, the North Nyasa Native a.s.sociation, was established in 1912 and was followed in 1914 by the West Nyasa a.s.sociation; others emerged in succeeding decades. Political organizations reacting to the laws of the new colonial administration, the a.s.sociation held formal meetings with minutes, rules, and elections. Consisting mostly of Western-educated members, these Malawians sought to make recommendations to the British authorities, who invariably found their suggestions inappropriate. In 1930, the a.s.sociations began working with and through district councils. One issue in the 1930s drew the a.s.sociations tightly together: the proposed union with Rhodesia. A decade later, the a.s.sociations joined together, creating the Nyasaland African Congress (NAC). At its first conference in 1944, Levi Mumba was elected president. Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda would become one of its most steadfast supporters and its main financial underwriter. In 1959 the NAC would become the Malawi Congress Party (MCP).

Membership in the a.s.sociations waned only when the independent churches seemed to be more effectual. Usually the leaders of the a.s.sociations were also active in the independent churches. Early initiatives by Malawians to be independent included the formation, before World War I, of churches separate from the Scottish mission at Livingstonia, such as Charles Domingo's Seventh-Day Baptist and Elliott Kamwana's Watch Tower. Malawians understandably resented the European's racist att.i.tudes and condemnation of traditional customs. With the advent of World War I, many Malawians became distressed at being recruited for a cause that was not theirs, but that of the Europeans. A large death toll, combined with land problems and labor abuses on certain estates, produced in January 1915 an uprising against European control. The Chilembwe rising shook European complacency, resulted in an official government inquiry, and recommended, but never implemented, reforms.

In the interwar years, the British adopted a policy of indirect rule in which certain judicial powers were delegated to chiefs, permitting them to hold court, and various administrative responsibilities were given to chiefs, such as levying taxes. To raise living standards, the British, patterned after the Jeanes educationalists, established centers in the 1920s and 1930s in which community workers, chiefs, and headmen attended courses to promote the use of better hygiene, nutrition, child care, and agrarian methods. Addressing the critical land problem that plagued the Protectorate, a 1936 Order in Council secured 90 percent of the land for African use, leaving the remainder for townships, forest reserves, Crown land, and that already alienated by Europeans. The Abrahams Commission in 1946 designated more alienated land in the Shire Highlands for African use. Subsequent purchases of alienated land have been necessary since then to reduce the number of squatters.

Unlike its neighbors, Malawi did not have an abundance of minerals to draw Europeans to its soil. European traders and planters wanted an a.s.surance of good transport, cheap labor, and land. The latter two were easily obtainable, but the rail system, developed at great expense to the Protectorate, made transport costs inordinately high. A cla.s.sic underdevelopment case, Malawi had few industries, forcing its male population to seek employment in neighboring states, which were more industrially advanced. Severely straining the family social structure, the Malawian migrant laborers influenced the economic development of Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, leaving Malawi without skilled labor. Men who were migrant laborers or recruits fighting in World War II returned from those travels with experiences that often made them dissatisfied with their own political status, living standards, or educational opportunities.

PostWorld War II, the native a.s.sociations had drawn together into the Nyasaland African Congress, and the very small but vocal European community was attracted to the possibility of uniting with a richer territory. Establishing a closer union among east and central African territories had been bandied about since World War I and gained considerable support in the 1930s among the Europeans. However, agreement could not be reached before the onset of World War II, which placed dreams of amalgamation on hold. Finally in 1953, after many more months of discussion, the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was established. At no time were discussions about a closer union ever supported by the vast majority of Africans in Nyasaland. The Bledisloe Commission Report in 1939 recognized that the opposition to a federation was overwhelming. Whenever the a.s.sociations, provincial councils, or chiefs were polled for African sentiment, the reply was always the same: the Federation would benefit Europeans, not Africans. Not surprisingly, Malawi did not, in fact, benefit economically from the union. Along with total rejection of the Federation came the movement to end the union and become independent. Led by a generation of younger leaders, such as Henry Chipembere and Kanyama Chiume, the followers of the NAC became more militant in their demands for controlling their own lives.

In 1958, Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda returned to Nyasaland to take over headship of the nationalist movement, to work for secession from the Federation, and to revise the const.i.tution, providing for an African majority and independence from British rule. When, allegedly, the NAC advocated violence, Governor Robert Armitage declared a state of emergency (March 1959), during which unnecessary brutality was used against NAC members; Banda, Chipembere, and many others were sent to prison. The Devlin Commission of 1959 exonerated Banda and the NAC, which was now the MCP. In the following year, a const.i.tutional conference was held in London, with Banda, Chirwa, and Chiume, three chiefs, and two Asian delegates in attendance. The MCP emerged from this meeting with a majority in LEGCO, and in the election under the new const.i.tution held in August 1961, all 20 lower roll seats were won by the MCP, which obtained 99 percent of the votes cast. The issues at the polls were to keep the Federation or become independent, to support Africanization of government positions, and to improve social conditions. Banda became de facto prime minister; the British agreed to permit Nyasaland to secede from the Federation and subsequently, to grant independence on 6 July 1964.

The Postcolonial Era Sovereignty obtained, Banda set about administering the new nation. Almost immediately, his efforts to directly control the entire government met with opposition from some of the younger men who had struggled with him for independence. Unable to reconcile their differences on domestic and foreign policy issues, the former cabinet ministers were forced to leave Malawi in what came to be known as the Cabinet Crisis. In 1966, Malawi became a republic and a one-party state. From the mid-1960s, Banda nearly single-handedly governed his nation, often appealing to the people to trust him to rule in their interests.

The apparent political stability and positive economic climate in Malawi pleased foreign aid agencies, which oversubscribed loans and saw Malawi's economic growth rates at 5 percent annually. Some of the development money went to the extension of roads and railways so as to enable the movement of produce from rural areas to markets within and outside the country. There was also an expansion of the educational system as more schools were built. Health programs were also implemented. Most of the aid was allocated to the planning and execution of rural agricultural projects aimed at increasing productivity of the smallholder producer, thereby ensuring food security in the country. The results were mixed partly because the prices set by the Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMARC), which had a virtual monopoly to market smallholder produce, were inadequate to make agriculture profitable to the farmers. On the other hand, the estate sector (mostly tobacco, tea, and sugar) operated under more favorable conditions, with the result that, throughout the 1970s and for most of the following decade, it experienced tangible growth.

Toward the end of the 1980s, the economy of Malawi was not in good shape. It was adversely affected by world market prices, it lacked diversification in its exports, and it increasingly experienced weaknesses in management, especially of the parastatal organizations, which had become dominant features in the socioeconomic life of the country. The government accepted the structural adjustment program of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, which involved, among many other measures, lifting subsidies on fertilizers and oil, resulting in the rising cost of most consumer goods. The program also liberalized the marketing of smallholder produce so that ADMARC no longer held the monopoly in this field.

Meanwhile, although Banda and the MCP continued to be intolerant of dissent, pressure was mounting on the need for political reform. As the Soviet Union broke apart, Western nations that had hitherto supported Banda because of his anticommunist stance demanded change as a prerequisite for aid. For a period in 199293, Malawi received little foreign a.s.sistance, and this badly affected the economy. Malawians in exile also called for immediate reform and, within the country, underground opposition began to surface and openly call for multiparty democracy. In March 1992, the Catholic bishops issued a pastoral letter, which was read in their churches and criticized the human rights record of the government. Before the end of the year, new political parties, the Alliance for Democracy (AFORD) and the United Democratic Front (UDF), were formed. As the political agitation increased, Banda was forced to accept change, which a national referendum in May 1993 confirmed overwhelmingly. In June the following year, the first general election in over 30 years took place. Elson Bakili Muluzi of the UDF defeated Banda and two other candidates; the UDF also won the majority of the seats in the expanded National a.s.sembly. Freedom of expression and a.s.sociation had returned to Malawi, and the political tension eased considerably.

Muluzi inherited an unstable economy and, like Banda, he turned to donor agencies for a.s.sistance. The IMF and the World Bank advised on more structural adjustment programs, including a ma.s.sive devaluation of the Malawi kwacha and an acceleration in the privatization of nearly all statutory organizations. In foreign affairs, Malawi extended friendship to Arab and Islamic nations, most of which had been shunned by the Banda government. Muluzi became a more active partic.i.p.ant in inter-African affairs and even offered to contribute to an Africa-based peacekeeping force.

Although practically retired, Banda remained head of the MCP until his death on 25 November 1997; within a few months, Gwanda Chakuamba was elected to succeed him. In the general elections of June 1999, he was the presidential candidate for the MCP-AFORD, and Chakufwa Chihana of the AFORD stood as vice president. Muluzi won and his party also took the majority in the National a.s.sembly. Although the election results were hotly contested by the MCP-AFORD and by the smaller Malawi Democratic Party led by Kamlepo Kalua, it seemed clear that the culture of democracy was beginning to take root in Malawi. The second term (19992004) of the Muluzi presidency was marked by political uncertainties, mismanagement in government and public service generally, and by poor economic performance of the country.

In the early 2000s, Muluzi indicated that he planned to initiate measures to change the const.i.tution so that he could stand for a third term, and this issue dominated the rest of his presidency as he showed determination to pursue the matter and as opposition to it increased. Other political parties protested, and within the UDF itself there was some disquiet. The churches, Catholic and many Protestant ones, resisted the plan and campaigned actively against it. Courts became involved too as some people sought to resolve the matter via the judicial system. In the meantime, the economy performed poorly during this time, especially as agricultural production declined. The drought of 2000/2001 followed by floods in 2003 contributed to this decline, and although the World Bank gave Malawi $50 million to deal with the effects of the drought, this period also marked the donor community's withdrawal of most economic a.s.sistance because of mismanagement and lack of accountability in public service. Furthermore, inflation rose to 30 percent and the discount rate to 47 percent.

In 2004, Bakili Muluzi announced that he would not stand as UDF presidential candidate in that year's general elections, and that Minister of Economic Affairs Bingu wa m.u.t.h.arika would do so instead. Bingu wa m.u.t.h.arika duly won the contest but, in January 2005, he broke away from the UDF, and in the following month, formed his own party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Using organs such as the Anti-Corruption Bureau, President Bingu wa m.u.t.h.arika tackled mismanagement and corruption immediately and paid more attention to agricultural production. This impressed donors, and aid returned to Malawi; and, by 2005, domestic debt lessened, credit became more available to the private sector, and growth rose to about 5 percent. In 2006, harvests were particularly poor, adversely affecting the economy, so to improve the situation, the government embarked on a large-scale program of fertilizer subsidies, with good results.

With external aid resumed and an increase in the harvest, the economy took a turn for the better, leading to a swelling in the government's and the president's popularity. Many on the opposition benches in the National a.s.sembly changed parties, and by 2007, the DPP was virtually in the majority in the legislative house. In the May 2009 general and presidential elections, the DPP won 114 out of 193 seats in the National a.s.sembly, the MCP 26, the UDF 17, AFORD 1, and independent candidates, most whom were closely aligned with the DPP, won 26; the rest went to small parties. Seven candidates contested the state presidency, and Bingu wa m.u.t.h.arika won 65 percent of the votes and embarked on his second term.

In January 2010, President Bingu wa m.u.t.h.arika was elected as chairman of the African Union (AU), replacing Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi of Libya, who in 2002 had been instrumental in transforming the Organization of African Unity into the African Union. As a result of this position, Bingu wa m.u.t.h.arika attended most international summits of note, including the Group of Twenty (G20) and G8, thereby raising Malawi's profile. In Malawi itself, the Bingu wa m.u.t.h.arika government decided to modify the shape of the national flag so that, among other details, a full sun replaced the rising one. The government's justification for the change was that the full sun reflected the fact that Malawi was now more developed than it had been at independence in 1964. Although civil society, some churches, the Malawi Congress Party, and the United Democratic Front Party opposed the change, requesting more time to debate the matter, the government proceeded to alter the flag in July 2010.

There were other contentious issues of national importance, and among them was the government's decision to amend Section 46 of the penal code to enable the minister of information to ban publication and circulation of publications determined not to be in the best interests of the public. Despite widespread opposition in Malawi and abroad, the amendment became law in February 2011. Another controversial matter was the government's expulsion in April that year of the British high commissioner because of a leaked report to the British Foreign Office in which he remarked on the increasing dictatorial behavior and intolerance to criticism of President Bingu wa m.u.t.h.arika. The unprecedented decision troubled Malawians, including civil society and church organizations, especially in view of the historical relations between the two countries, and of the fact that since independence in 1964, Great Britain had been Malawi's major donor. Besides, asking the Malawi envoy to leave immediately, the British government reviewed the bilateral relations between the two countries, and announced that it was cutting aid to Malawi.

Another issue that preoccupied many Malawians in the first half of 2011 was the closure in April of Chancellor College and the Polytechnic, const.i.tuent colleges of the University of Malawi. This followed the boycott of cla.s.ses by faculty in reaction to Inspector General of Police Peter Mukhito's interrogation in February of a political scientist at Chancellor College concerning a lecture that he had given in which he referred to the upheavals that were taking place in North Africa at the time. Concerned that the principle of academic freedom had been violated, the faculty decided not to return to their cla.s.ses before Peter Mukhito apologized, and only after the government a.s.sured them of their right to teach without interference. In sympathy, students joined the boycott, and so did the faculty and students at the Polytechnic in Blantyre. Early in April, the University Council closed the two colleges and, in the following month, President Bingu wa m.u.t.h.arika announced that he was appointing a commission of inquiry to resolve the impa.s.se. He also instructed that students to return to their campuses by 4 July. However, whereas cla.s.ses resumed at the Polytechnic, there was no change in the situation at Chancellor College. Its faculty decided not to start teaching before their dispute with the university council was resolved. On 27 August, President Bingu wa m.u.t.h.arika ordered that the college be closed.

In the meantime, the uneasy relations between Bingu wa m.u.t.h.arika and his Vice president Joyce Banda worsened as it became evident that there was a movement within the ruling DPP to nominate the president's brother Peter m.u.t.h.arika as the party's flag-bearer in the 2014 national elections. As rumors spread that Joyce Banda was about to establish her own political organization, she was expelled from the DPP in December 2010. Although she continued to be the official vice president of the Republic of Malawi, she formed the People's Party in May 2011, and it was understood that she would be its presidential candidate in 2014.

In June, civil society leaders announced that there would be nationwide demonstrations on 20 July to force the government to attend to the many problems confronting Malawi, including poverty, corruption and mismanagement, fuel shortages, and erosion of human rights. On that day, police shot dead nine people at Mzuzu, and wounded more than 40 others. Other deaths occurred in Lilongwe and Blantyre, and a total number 20 people died. Despite national and international condemnation of the government's response to the demonstrations, President m.u.t.h.arika blamed the organizers for the deaths, and threatened to arrest them. In the meantime, leadership of civil societies gave notice to the government that if this was the response to their grievances, there would be another national protest on 17 August. On their part, Muslim and Christian clergy organized a national day of prayer in Blantyre on the day before the demonstrations were due to take place. However, the organizers of the protest postponed them because of a court injunction taken against it and because the United Nations had offered to mediate between them and the government.

On 7 September 2011, President Bingu m.u.t.h.arika reshuffled his cabinet, introducing a leaner one, as many observers, including civic societies had called for. Goodall Gondwe returned to the government as minister of natural resources, energy, and environment, and so did Patricia Kaliati as minister of information and civic education. The president's wife, Callista m.u.t.h.arika, became a member of the cabinet in her capacity as the National Coordinator of the Maternal, Infant, and Child Health, and of HIV, Nutrition, Malaria, and Tuberculosis. Among those dropped were finance minister Ken Kandondo and foreign affairs minister Etta Banda. Several deputy ministers also lost their positions, reducing the total number of ministers and their deputies from 41 to 30. Also excluded from the cabinet was vice president Joyce Banda.

A.

A. L. BRUCE ESTATES. See BRUCE, ALEXANDER LOW; CHILEMBWE, JOHN; LIVINGSTONE, WILLIAM JERVIS.

ABDALLAH, YOHANNA BARNABA (?1924). This distinguished Christian worker and Yao historian was born in northern Mozambique. Ordained as an Anglican priest at the Likoma Cathedral in 1898, he was briefly a.s.signed to a church center in Zanzibar but spent most of his working life at the Unangu Mission station, east of Lake Malawi. A noted Greek and Bible scholar, Abdallah visited the Holy Land in 1905, an event that heightened his devotion to Christianity. He was the author of Chikala cha Wayao, which was translated and edited by Meredith Sanderson and published in 1919; the book was a pioneering study of the Yao and their homeland. Abdallah died in 1924.

ABRAHAMS COMMISSION. Appointed in 1946, this commission was to investigate the problem of land and tenancy, mainly in the Shire Highlands. Sir Sidney Abrahams, the commission's leader, was a 1906 British Olympiad, a distinguished lawyer, a privy counselor, and, in the 1920s, had served as attorney general in the Gold Coast, Uganda, and Zanzibar; in the 1930s, he was chief justice of Uganda and then of Ceylon. Although the matter of land had been the subject of inquiries, such as the Jackson Commission of 1920, the OrmsbyGore Commission of 1924, and the Bell Commission of 1938, it had never really been resolved. In 1943 and 1945, there were land-related riots in Blantyre and Thyolo, respectively, proving that the issue remained explosive. The disturbances led to the appointment of the Abrahams Commission to recommend a permanent solution to the problem.

The commission recommended that the government purchase all cultivable land in the areas concerned and administer it as native trust land. Africans on European-owned estates would be given three choices: move to the native trust land, vacate the estate in lieu of government compensation for loss of home and garden, or remain on the estate on the condition of working for the land owner, until the contract lapsed or the tenant became dissatisfied with the deal; if the latter became the case, the tenant could resort to the second option.

Although these recommendations were not fully implemented until 1952, Africans, by and large, reacted favorably to them. On the other hand, Europeans such as Malcolm Barrow, threatened by the possibility of labor shortages, were unhappy with aspects of the commission's findings.

ADAM, OSMAN. One of the most prominent Indian businessmen in 20th-century Malawi, Osman Adam started his commercial enterprises in Blantyre in 1894, becoming the first Indian to do so in the new British colony. In the early 1920s, Adam became founding president of the Nyasaland Indian Traders a.s.sociation, rose to be a leader in the Nyasaland Indian a.s.sociation, and in 1943, he and C. K. Dharap, another leading Indian businessman, financed the establishment of the first Indian primary school in Blantyre. Dharap Primary School still exists today, the population of students now being predominantly indigenous Malawians.

AFRICAN COOPERATIVE SOCIETY (ACS). Based at Shiloh (Chikunda), just outside Blantyre, the ACS was formed in 1900 by Joseph Booth as an answer to some of the financial problems the Seventh-Day Baptist Mission was encountering in the Shire Highlands, and as a way of ensuring that Africans rendered unemployed because of the failure of Booth's agricultural projects could earn a living. Under this scheme, Booth was able to secure porterage contracts that enabled about 500 workers to carry the African Lakes Corporation's (ALC) goods, mainly between Katunga on the Shire and Blantyre. Booth took charge of the finances of the ACS, with the result that when Jacob Bakker headed the mission in the later part of 1901, he found it difficult to understand the management of the project. The ACS was virtually dead by early 1902 as a result of Booth's severance of ties with the Sabbath Evangelizing and Industrial Mission of Plainfield, New Jersey, which sold some of the Shire Highland a.s.sets to the Seventh-Day Adventist Church.

AFRICAN INITIATED CHURCHES. The term "African initiated churches" or "independent churches" refers to those church organizations that broke away from the mainstream denominations such as the Church of Scotland, the Dutch Reformed Church, the Seventh-Day Adventist and the Seventh-Day Baptists. The first independent church, the Providence Industrial Mission (PIM), was founded by John Chilembwe in 1900. Influenced by Joseph Booth, who took him to the United States, and by the American Negro Baptists in Virginia, John Chilembwe adopted some of the functions of the black independent churches in the United States. The preachers, Chilembwe observed, were active politicians whose churches were converted into political organizations sustained by religious enthusiasm. Returning to Malawi, Chilembwe created an impressive industrial mission that sought the betterment of Africans economically as well as intellectually. The PIM was African controlled and gave expression to such African grievances as low wages, long hours, and general mistreatment. After the Chilembwe uprising in 1915, the church was discontinued until 1926 when Daniel Malekebu reinst.i.tuted the mission.

On the eve of World War I, the independent churches consisted of Chilembwe's PIM, Eliot Musokwa Kamwana Chirwa's Watch Tower, Charles Domingo's Seventh-Day Baptists, and Filipo Chinyama's Ntcheu Mission. For those Africans unhappy with the older established European missions, these independent churches provided opportunities for leadership, respectability, and social advancement; they also were a means through which economic, political, and social grievances could be aired. As an alternative path, these independent churches often drew converts from those who were refused entrance into one of the Presbyterian churches without long probation, or who were unable to afford the school fees that were levied on members. To these less privileged members of the African community, there was an appeal provided by Domingo and Kamwana.

During the era between the two world wars, a new group of independent churches emerged, particularly between 1925 and 1935. In 1925, Jordan Msumba formed the Last Church of G.o.d and his Christ, which permitted polygamy. Three years later, the African National Church was established by several Livingstonia church elders and pastors, including Simon Kamkhati Mkandawire, Levi Mumba, Isaac Mkhondowe, and Paddy Nyasulu. The African National Church retained most of the Presbyterian principles except for polygamy and freedom to drink alcohol. In 1935, three Livingstonia ministers, Yaphet Mknadawire, Yesaya Zerenji Mwase, and Charles Chinula, who had left the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian only a year or two before, joined forces to form the Black Man's Church in Africa (Mpingo wa Afipa wa Africa). Ironically, perhaps, the Livingstonia Mission had taught and encouraged its students to be of an independent mind and conscience. The evolution of independent churches was related to the ineffectiveness of the European missions in dealing with such moral problems as evil, witchcraft, and divisiveness among people. The new church leaders were activists, engaging in the work of local African Welfare a.s.sociations and encouraging the development of African schools. In the field of education, it was Daniel Malekebu's PIM and, to a lesser extent, Chunula's projects that enjoyed the greatest success in the interwar period.

Most often those individuals who sought an independent path were acting out of a sincere love for the Christian church. When dissent occurred over differences in traditions and customs, reconciliation was sought but was not always achieved. Differences were sometimes concerned with which day was the Sabbath, which method should be used for baptism, and how long a period of preparatory training was necessary for admission into a church. Generally, they were fundamentalist in their interpretation of the Bible. Most desired more control over their own lives and beliefs and a lessening of European authority. See also ETHIOPIANISM; RELIGION.

AFRICAN LAKES CORPORATION (ALC). Started in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1878 as a response to Dr. David Livingstone's appeal that "legitimate" commerce replace the slave trade in Africa, this trading enterprise was originally called the Livingstonia Central Africa Company before changing to the African Lakes Company. In 1894, it changed again to African Lakes Corporation. Its first managers were two Glasgow brothers, Frederick and John Moir, and in 1878, they set up their operating center at Blantyre, just half a mile south of the Church of Scotland mission. Locally popularly known as Mandala because John Moir wore gla.s.ses (mandala), the ALC soon developed general trading establishments in almost all districts in the colony, its only compet.i.tors being Indian traders who by the mid-1920s dominated retail commerce in the rural areas. In the 1890s, the ALC began a rubber plantation at Vizara near Nkata Bay, and in 1924, it went into the car business, Mandala Motors, which became one of the leading dealerships in the country. In the early 1970s, the company closed all retail shops, with only the car division and insurance business (including representing Lloyds of London) remaining open. In 2002, the company sold Mandala Ltd., which by that time included Malawi Motors and Malital Ltd., to the Compagnie de l'Afrique Occidentale, a French firm, and in 2003, it sold the Vizara Rubber Estate. Thereafter, it concentrated on other concerns in different parts of Africa and in Europe. See also AFRICAN COOPERATIVE SOCIETY.

AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL (AME) CHURCH. This black American separatist church was founded in the 19th century, and it stressed the right of black men and women to control their own lives. The first AME mission was started in Malawi in 1924 by Hanock Phiri who had become a member during his stay in South Africa; a year later, the church's first school began. Dr. Hastings K. Banda was a member of the AME church from 1922 to 1932, and the church partially funded both his pa.s.sage from South Africa to the United States and his education at the Wilberforce Inst.i.tute in Ohio. See also RELIGION.

AFRICAN NATIONAL CHURCH. This church was formed in 1929 in the ChilumbaChitimba area of Malawi by former elders of the Livingstonia Mission, princ.i.p.ally Simon Kamkhati Mkandawire, Paddy Nyasulu, Robert Sambo Mhango, Levi Mumba, and Isaac Mkondowe. Accepting polygamy and, in time, more tolerant of beer drinking, the church's main followers were other former members who had been expelled from the mainstream church on grounds of polygamy or adultery. Its adherents also included people who had never joined a Christian church because of polygamy or beer drinking. The African National Church strongly supported the aspirations of the African Welfare a.s.sociations, which sought to improve the welfare of indigenous peoples in the British colony. Within a few years of its formation, the African National Church had branches in many parts of Malawi, including Zomba and Lilongwe, and through the efforts of Paddy Nyasulu, southern Tanganyika. By the 1960s, it had spread to Zambia, Zimbabwe, and southern Congo; in the 1960s, the church also changed its name to the African International Church, partly to reflect is transnational character, and partly because the Malawi government insisted on a different name because of the fear that its original designation would give the impression that it was the country's official church. See also RELIGION.

AFRICAN PROTECTORATE COUNCIL OF NYASALAND. Consisting of three members from each of the three Provincial Councils, the African Protectorate Council was formed by the governor in 1946 as an a.s.surance to Africans that their views could be discussed at high levels of administration. Considered by some as a way of minimizing the influence of the radical members of the new Nyasaland African Congress, the African Protectorate Council was to oppose both closer union of Rhodesia and Nyasaland and the Federation. In 1949, the governor nominated two members of the Protectorate Council, Ellerton Mposa and Ernest Alexander Muwamba, to serve in the Legislative Council.

AFRICAN REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. See MKANDAWIRE, YAPHET.

AFRICAN UNION (AU). Originally known as the Organization of African Unity (OAU), it transformed itself into the African Union in 2002, and all African states, except Morocco, are members of it. All the programs and decisions are made at the annual meeting of the a.s.sembly of the African Union consisting of the heads of state and government of its 53 members. Its African Union Commission, as its secretariat would be called, would continue to be at the OAU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The representative organ of the AU is the Pan African Parliament, whose 265 members are elected by individual parliaments of member countries.

The aims of the AU include expediting the process toward the integration of Africa, representing and defending interests common to member states, ensuring peace and security on the continent, and advancing democracy, good governance, and human rights in Africa. In 2009, the a.s.sembly changed the secretariat's name to African Union Authority. Chairpersons of the AU serve for a year, and in January 2010, President Bingu wa m.u.t.h.arika a.s.sumed the chair of the AU, succeeding Muammar al-Gaddafi of Libya, and he presided over his first a.s.sembly in Uganda in July that year.

AFRICAN WELFARE a.s.sOCIATIONS. Also referred to as Native a.s.sociations or Voluntary a.s.sociations, they were early pressure groups representing an African effort to work with the colonial administration. The first was the North Nyasa Native a.s.sociation, formed in 1912 at Karonga by, among others, Simon Muhango and Levi Mumba. It was followed by others, including those in Mzimba (Mombera), Zomba, Chiradzulu (started by Dr. Daniel Malekebu), Mulanje, and Blantyre. As local and regional groups, they kept the colonial government in touch with African public opinion, and they kept their districts well informed politically, explaining new legislation. Membership of the a.s.sociations tended to be elitist, most of them being teachers, church ministers, or civil servants. By 1933, educated Malawians had organized 15 such a.s.sociations.

a.s.sociations sought recognition from the government and wanted it to consider several issues vital to the majority population. They argued for better postal service, bridges, and roads; they sought relief from high store prices; they urged a.s.sistance in ensuring village sanitation; they asked for cooperation in protecting women from unwanted advances from European men; they were concerned over the harmful effects of labor migration; and they persistently requested more and better educational facilities. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the a.s.sociations unsuccessfully attempted to reason with an administration deaf to words of reform. During the Bledisloe Commission hearings, the a.s.sociations spoke frankly against any form of closer union or amalgamation with the Rhodesias.

a.s.sociations tended to shun ma.s.s partic.i.p.ation in their groups and clung to const.i.tutional methods in an effort to effect political change. In 1944, they played a major role in the formation of the first nationalist movement, the Nyasaland African Congress (NAC). Levi Mumba, its first president, had in 1929 initiated the formation of the Zomba-based Committee of Northern Province a.s.sociations. Similarly, James Sangala, a key person in the movement toward the formation of the NAC, had been active in a.s.sociations in Zomba and Blantyre.

AFRICANIZATION. This refers to the phasing out of expatriate civil servants and the replacement by Malawians. Unlike other African leaders, Dr. Hastings K. Banda resisted rapid Africanization, insisting that Africans would be promoted on their merit, not their skin color. Africanization also extended beyond public service into the commercial and industrial sectors, where Asian retailers and European-owned businesses were affected. Among the industries nationalized was the Malawi Railways, previously controlled by Lonrho. See also SKINNER REPORT.

AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT AND MARKETING CORPORATION (ADMARC). The origins of ADMARC trace back in the colonial period, when the government established various boards to regulate the marketing of crops produced by Africans. The Native Tobacco Board was established in 1926, and similar organizations were set up for cotton (1951) and for beans as well as groundnuts and maize (1952). In 1956, the three agencies merged to form the Agricultural Production and Marketing Board (AP&MB); the director of agriculture became chairman of the board, and most of its employees were seconded from the Department of Agriculture and doubled in marketing and extension work. The government granted the board a monopoly to market all the crops in which it was involved. By 1960, the AP&MB had established markets in various parts of the colony, had capital installations worth 1.5 million and a turnover of approximately 3,500 million.

When Dr. Hastings K. Banda took over the Ministry of Agriculture in 1961, he changed the organization's name to the Farmers Marketing Board (FMB). The FMB began to expand its activities to include buying freehold farms, which some Europeans were voluntarily selling as they left the country. In the second half of the 1960s, the organization sold some of these farms, most of which were in the southern region, to individual Malawians through an arrangement by which the board a.s.sured such prospective buyers' loans and even farm managers.

In April 1971, the FMB changed its name and status to the Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation. A statutory corporation owned by the government and directed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, ADMARC's main functions continued to be the purchasing (and processing where necessary) of crops produced by smallholder farmers; the improvement in agricultural production standards; the establishment of agroindustrial enterprises; and the marketing of the increased volume of exportable crops. The corporation posts a set of purchase prices for each commodity before the planting season, and it is mainly interested in maize, rice, ca.s.sava, cotton, tobacco, and groundnuts, the latter three grown primarily for export. ADMARC maintains well over 50 storage depots for the various crops; its agents at these bases also sell to rural farmers select seed, fertilizer, pesticides, and farm implements.

During the 1970s, ADMARC made huge profits, largely because of the wide differential between its buying and selling prices for the smallholder crops such as fire-cured tobacco, whose farmers were paid less than one-third of the prevailing market price. The enormous profits enabled it to establish a diverse investment portfolio, which in the early 1980s included enterprises in most sections of the economy. In 1971, it became a major shareholder in the new Commercial Bank of Malawi and in the just const.i.tuted National Bank of Malawi, and it invested heavily in many of the companies controlled by Press Corporation Limited. ADMARC was able to keep its substantial profits until 1979 when the central government required that the treasury be paid 40 percent of those profits. In the early 1980s, the World Bank began working with the Malawi government, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the United Nations Development Programme, and other donors to strengthen ADMARC by focusing its activities on marketing, improving its management, and reducing its nonmarketing activities. When in the mid-1980s ADMARC was no longer in a profit-making position and its liquidity problems became very serious, the government had to provide a.s.sistance to purchase smallholder crops.

From the 198788 growing season, the private sector was allowed to compete with ADMARC in the marketing of smallholder crops. Since 1988, ADMARC investments have been reduced to agro-based industries and agricultural activities, and the range of crop marketing has been expanded for the private sector. At the behest of the World Bank, the corporation has sold its estates to entrepreneurs. In 1997, ADMARC extended its business interests to the transportation sector when it purchased Stagecoach (Malawi), the transport company formerly owned by a British firm. Multiple problems, including the poor state of the roads, limited spare parts, and compet.i.tion from the mushrooming minibus business, resulted in Stagecoach being unprofitable, and in 20078, ADMARC sold parts of it to a Malawi syndicate and liquidated the rest of the bus company's a.s.sets.

Under the privatization program, ADMARC was expected to be sold in the 1990s. However, civil society has campaigned against the plan, arguing that such a step would place the poor at a disadvantage as they will be left to the mercy of the entrepreneurs over whom the government has no control. Some politicians have also argued that selling ADMARC would increase food insecurity, that this would go against government plans of poverty alleviation, and therefore that it was the social responsibility of the government to leave the status quo. They urged the government to strengthen the corporation so that it could serve the people effectively.

AGRICULTURE. Without any significant mineral wealth, Malawi has always been an agricultural country and, throughout his political career, Dr. Hastings K. Banda maintained that agriculture had to be the country's first order of business; food production was primary, whereas industry and its accompanying urbanization came much later. Nearly 90 percent of the population are engaged in agricultural activities. Maize is both the main subsistence and cash crop of the smallholder, whereas tobacco, tea, and sugarcane are the cash crops of the estate farmers. Agriculture provides approximately 37 percent of Malawi's gross domestic product. Subsistence production provides the largest and most stable element of crop production. Estate and smallholder cash crop production varies annually according to market demands and weather conditions.

Estate production, however, accounts for about 60 percent of domestic exports. Dating back to colonial days when expatriate farmers were given free-hold or lease-hold t.i.tles to land, estate crops have been important. Most estates (about 400) survived after independence and the government supported the expansion of this sector. After 1964, President Banda was able to reward his most loyal supporters with profitable tobacco and tea estates, which could be purchased by government loans. In a 1965 legislation, he acquired the power to issue leases for estates to his political allies. This economic patronage provided the president with years of unchallenged political support. Village headmen and chiefs were warned by government officials not to confiscate customary land and sell it to the estate sector or to withhold lands from smallholders. The World Bank also insisted on ending land transfers, which continued to favor the estate sector's access to land.

Agricultural production has diversified in recent years. Maize, pulses (beans and peas), rice, and ca.s.sava are staple foodstuffs grown by smallholders for domestic consumption, whereas groundnuts, cotton, fire-cured tobacco, and to an extent coffee, are key cash crops grown by smallholders for both home use and export. Most Malawian farms are small, averaging about 3 acres; only 2 percent of all farms are 12 acres or larger. Sixty-three percent of all farmers cultivate 35 percent of the acreage on farms of 4 acres or less. Large holdings of 6 acres or more represent 19 percent of the farms and 42 percent of the total cultivated acreage.

Regional distribution of crops is complicated and may only be described in oversimplified terms. In general, maize, pulses, and groundnuts are grown throughout the country. Of the leading cash crops, tobacco and groundnuts have their areas of maximum production in the central region; cotton and tea in the south; rice in the north. Since the 1970s, there have been rice projects along the central sh.o.r.es of Lake Malawi, near Salima and Nkhotakota, and tobacco is now grown in the north, especially in Mzimba and Rumpi districts and, to a degree, in Chitipa; cotton and coffee are also being revived in that region. Some coffee is also grown in the south and north.

The government's agricultural development program has been conservative. The largest projects were near Lilongwe, Chikwawa, and Karonga and were financed in part by the World Bank. Other projects concentrated on developing certain crops: cotton, rice, tea, and flue-cured tobacco. These integrated rural projects had mixed results, and their operations extended to only 10 percent of the population. Because of the limited impact and high costs, the rural projects were dropped in 1978 in favor of the National Rural Development Program. This program concentrated on a much larger number of families over two decades by a.s.sisting these farmers with credit and extension information.

Since the late 1980s, the Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMARC) no longer has the monopoly of marketing smallholder produce. Individual entrepreneurs now purchase food and cash crops from smallholder farmers, and this has enabled the producers, especially the tobacco growers, to have more control and to increase their incomes.

Agricultural extension services have been expanded significantly since independence; the ratio of extension officers to farmers has increased. Until 1973, when the Malawi government took over the expenditures, the extension services were financed by the British government. General shortages in skilled extension services staff have continued and, generally, such government aid is rendered only to farmers who have sufficient acreage to implement the suggested changes, including growing hybrid pure maize with proper amounts of fertilizer.

The post-Banda government has also emphasized agriculture as the central economic activity and has continued to encourage an increase in the cultivation of maize, rice, ca.s.sava, sorghum, and millet. However, food security has been greatly threatened by factors such as drought and El Nino. At the beginning of the 199798 season and in late 1998, too much rain caused waterlogging, forcing the government to import maize from countries such as South Africa. Agricultural production has also been adversely affected by the devaluation of the Malawi Kwacha and by the removal of subsidies on fuel and fertilizer, measures that have rendered the latter too expensive for most peasant farmers.

Cash crops, including tobacco, tea, and cotton, have remained key foreign exchange earners, except that they too have been badly affected by the same factors. Tobacco, which in the 1970s and 1980s had surpa.s.sed tea as the main export crop, has further suffered from the progressively low prices it has brought on the auction floors. In 1998, there was a government deficit of 700 million kwacha (about US$16 million), leading to a devaluation of the Malawi kwacha by 68 percent. Farmers in the more remote areas such as Chitipa have been further hampered by the poor roads as, often, the high cost of transporting the crop to the auction floors renders the activity unprofitable.

Another notable aspect of post-Banda agriculture has been promoting the less traditional cash crops in the hope that their earnings will offset the deficit created by the falling prices of tobacco. One such crop is pigeon peas, which in many parts of the country is part of the everyday diet. However, although Malawi is a major producer of this crop, earning as much as US$6 million annually from exporting it mainly to South Africa, India, and the Netherlands, the Malawi government has, until recently, not considered it a significant foreign exchange earner. In 1999, a 150-acre hydroponic farm was opened in the Blantyre area with a view to greatly increasing the availability of fresh vegetables and fruits, thereby reducing their importation from Zimbabwe and South Africa. This US$6 million project is headed by the Africa Vegetable Corporation, operating in Malawi under the name of Africa Commodity Traders.

In addition, reforms are under way to move toward more effective land utilization and an improvement in maize markets through incentives such as better pricing and storage. Moreover, as part of the liberalization program, ADMARC was expected to be privatized, and the Strategic Grain Reserve has already been replaced by an independent National Food Reserve Agency. Smallholder crop authorities are also part of the privatization program and, in the late 1990s, a task force comprising the railways, haulage firms, and private traders was set up to establish a means of reducing the cost of imported fertilizer.

During the second term (19992004) of Bakili Muluzi's United Democratic Front (UDF), agricultural production in Malawi declined because of environmental, political, and economic factors. Soil erosion due to environmental degradation, itself attributable to overuse of land and to deforestation, made some of the arable land less productive than had been the case previously. Also drought, especially that of 20012, and the floods of 2003 led to poor harvests. In the 20012 cultivation season, 1.6 million metric tons of the country's princ.i.p.al staple, maize, were produced, representing a deficit of 600,000 metric tons of the approximate domestic demand. In addition, although Muluzi talked about poverty reduction and fertilizer a.s.sistance through starter packs, he paid little attention to agriculture, certainly in the post-1999 period, during which he was preoccupied with attempts to change the Const.i.tution to enable him to run for a third term. Furthermore, in 2004 the Muluzi administration was accused of externally selling maize from the National Food Reserve Agency and failing to account for the funds realized from the transaction.

When Bingu wa m.u.t.h.arika became president in May 2004, his government identified agriculture as being central to poverty alleviation and launched the Agricultural Inputs Subsidy Programme, which enabled rural farmers access to coupons to buy fertilizer at reduced prices. To ensure that farmers succeeded, the Ministry of Agriculture invested in extension services, the role of which had been diminished during the Muluzi era. The government also established funds to buy some maize from farmers, and the grain formed part of a food security program. The government, through extension workers, promoted irrigation and wetland (dambo) cultivation, thus making it possible to grow food in the dry season, with the aim of reducing famine. This was all part of a larger scheme, the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy. The government accelerated the subsidy program in 2006 after the decline in production of maize and other crops because of drought in 2005. This led to a sharp increase in food harvests, so much so that in December 2007 the Malawi National Food Reserve Agency exported to Zimbabwe 286,589 tons of maize, and this was aside from the 32,363 tons the