Ending Famine in Malawi, Simply by Ignoring the Experts
After the heavy subsidization of fertilizer, Malawi’s corn production has jumped to 3.4 million tons from 1.2 million tons in 2005, reports Celia W. Dugger of The New York Times. This has come about in the face of pressure from the The World Bank, the U.S. and Britain to adhere to free market policies.
In 2005, 5 million of the 13 million people in Malawi needed food aid. Following this, Bingu wa Mutharika, Malawi’s newly elected president, decided to extensively subsidize fertilizer. Now Malawi is selling more corn to the World Food Program and the UN than any other country in Sub-Saharan Africa, while exporting thousands of tons to Zimbabwe.
