Malawi Cannot Afford to Keep Reacting to Drought. Here Is What a Proactive System Looks Like.

Posted in : Articles on 1 July 2026

Article from Doshanie Kadokera, Chief Economist, Ministry of Agriculture, Malawi, and CIWA Drought Resilience Champion

Malawi’s economy runs on rain. More than 80% of the population depends on rain-fed agriculture. When rainfall fails — and it fails with increasing frequency — the consequences move quickly: crop losses, food insecurity, fiscal strain on government, and prolonged recovery periods for the communities least equipped to absorb the shock.

I have seen this cycle repeatedly. And I have become convinced that reactive responses alone are not enough.

As Chief Economist in Malawi’s Ministry of Agriculture, my work in disaster risk financing and food security has brought me close to both the scale of the problem and the possibilities for change. Through coordinating the African Risk Capacity (ARC) program and supporting the Africa Disaster Risk Financing Initiative (ADRiFi), I have seen what sovereign insurance payouts can do — how timely resources enable timely response. I have also seen the gaps: particularly at the farmer level, where the protective architecture thins out precisely where vulnerability is greatest.

The Drought Resilience Champions Initiative, supported by World Bank’s Cooperation in International Waters in Africa program, has given me the platform, tools, and peer network to go further.

The Drought Risk and Resilience Assessment (DRRA) process has been especially valuable — helping to map not just where drought risk exists, but how it moves through sectors, what it touches, and where proactive investment can reduce vulnerability before shocks occur. This kind of risk-informed planning is the shift Malawi needs.

Three interconnected principles have emerged as central to my thinking:

From data to decision. Early warning systems are only valuable if they are linked to early action. Data that sits in dashboards without triggering financing or field response is an infrastructure that falls short of its potential.

From sovereign to smallholder. Malawi has made progress with sovereign risk insurance. The next frontier is connecting those instruments to farmer-level solutions and social protection mechanisms, so that the chain of protection reaches the people most exposed to drought.

From coordination to integration. Drought resilience is not an agriculture problem, a finance problem, or a disaster management problem. It is all three — and it requires that national policymakers, technical institutions, and development partners work within a genuinely integrated framework.

My ambition, shaped by the Drought Resilience Champions Initiative and the peers I have learned from across the region, is to help Malawi build a system where drought risks are anticipated, financed, and mitigated — not just endured.

The stories of other champions, from Eswatini to Zimbabwe to Botswana to South Africa, have enriched my thinking and given me adaptable models to bring home. That regional learning community is one of the program’s most underappreciated assets.

Malawi can build this system. We have the people, the institutional will, and now a growing evidence base. What we need is sustained commitment — from government, from development partners, and from champions willing to keep making the case.

I am a Drought Resilience Champion for Malawi — and I am committed to the full chain: from data, to decision, to financing, to delivery.