Malawi

===Agriculture and industry===
{{main|Agriculture in Malawi}}
[[File:Groundnut harvesting in Malawi.jpg|thumb|right|Harvesting [[Bambara groundnut|groundnuts]] at an agricultural research station in Malawi]]

The [[economy of Malawi]] is predominantly agricultural. Over 80% of the population is engaged in subsistence farming, even though agriculture only contributed to 27% of GDP in 2013. The [[services sector]] accounts for more than half of GDP (54%), compared to 11% for manufacturing and 8% for other industries, including natural uranium mining. Malawi invests more in agriculture (as a share of GDP) than any other African country: 28% of GDP.<ref name=":0">{{cite book |url= http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002354/235406e.pdf |title= Southern Africa. In: UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030 |last1=Kraemer-Mbula |first1=Erika |last2=Scerri |first2=Mario |publisher= UNESCO |year=2015 |isbn= 978-92-3-100129-1 |location= Paris |pages= 535–555}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite book |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000228807 <!--http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0022/002288/228807e.pdf-->|title=Mapping Research and Innovation in the Republic of Malawi|author1=Lemarchand, Guillermo A.|author2=Schneegans, Susan|publisher=UNESCO|year=2014|isbn=978-92-3-100032-4|location=Paris |access-date=22 April 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://s3.amazonaws.com/one.org/images/131008_ONE_Maputo_FINAL.pdf|title=The Maputo Commitments and the 2014 African Year of Agriculture|publisher=ONE.org|year=2013}}</ref>

The main agricultural products of Malawi include [[tobacco]], [[sugarcane]], [[Gossypium|cotton]], [[Camellia sinensis|tea]], [[Maize|corn]], potatoes, [[sorghum]], cattle and goats. The main industries are tobacco, tea and sugar processing, [[sawmill]] products, cement and [[Final good|consumer goods]]. The industrial production growth rate is estimated at 10% (2009). The country makes no significant use of natural gas. {{As of|2008}}, Malawi does not import or export any electricity, but does import all its petroleum, with no production in country.<ref name="CIA" /> Beginning in 2006, the country began mixing unleaded petrol with 10% [[ethanol]], produced in-country at two plants, to reduce dependence on imported fuel. In 2008, Malawi began testing cars that ran solely on ethanol, and initial results are promising, and the country is continuing to increase its use of ethanol.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/malawis-ethanolfuel-tests-show-promise-2008-10-10|title=Malawi's ethanol-fuel tests show promise|newspaper=Engineering News|date=10 October 2008|last=Chimwala|first=Marcel|access-date=3 January 2009}}</ref>
[[File:Schoolchildren in Malawi.jpg|thumb|left|Children attending a [[farmer]] meeting in Nalifu village, [[Mulanje]]]]
{{As of|2009}}, Malawi exports an estimated US$945&nbsp;million in goods per year. The country's strong reliance on tobacco places a heavy burden on the economy as world prices decline and the international community increases pressure to limit tobacco production. Malawi's dependence on tobacco is growing, with the product jumping from 53% to 70% of export revenues between 2007 and 2008. The country also relies heavily on tea, sugar, and coffee, with these three plus tobacco making up more than 90% of Malawi's export revenue.<ref name="CIA" /><ref name="Africa08" /> 

Due to a rise in costs and a decline in sales prices, Malawi is encouraging farmers away from tobacco towards more profitable crops, including spices such as [[paprika]]. The move away from tobacco is further fueled by likely World Health Organisation moves against the particular type of tobacco that Malawi produces, burley leaf. It is seen to be more harmful to human health than other tobacco products. India [[hemp]] is another possible alternative, but arguments have been made that it will bring more crime to the country through its resemblance to varieties of [[cannabis (drug)|cannabis]] used as a [[recreational drug]] and the difficulty in distinguishing between the two types.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/708649.stm|work=BBC News|author=Tenthani, Raphael|title=Legal Hemp for Malawi?|date=24 April 2000|access-date=21 December 2011}}</ref> This concern is especially important because the cultivation of Malawian cannabis, known as [[Malawi Gold]], as a drug has increased significantly.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/17/world/marijuana-cultivation-increases-in-malawi.html|title=Marijuana Cultivation Increases in Malawi|date=17 December 1998|access-date=21 December 2011}}</ref> Malawi is known for growing "the best and finest" cannabis in the world for [[recreational drug use]], according to a recent World Bank report, and cultivation and sales of the crop may contribute to corruption within the police force.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bnltimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2877:malawis-chamba-valued-at-k1-4-billion&catid=42:national&Itemid=401|title=Malawi's Chamba valued at K1. 4 billion|date=11 December 2011|author=Mpaka, Charles|access-date=21 December 2011|work=Sunday Times|publisher=Blantyre Newspapers, Ltd|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112130233/http://www.bnltimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2877:malawis-chamba-valued-at-k1-4-billion&catid=42:national&Itemid=401|archive-date=12 January 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>
[[File:GDP in Southern African Development Community countries by economic sector, 2013 or closest year.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|GDP in Southern African Development Community countries by economic sector, 2013 or closest year<ref name="t2030">{{cite book |title= UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030 |date=2015}}</ref>]]
Other exported goods are cotton, peanuts, wood products, and [[Clothing|apparel]]. The main destination locations for the country's exports are South Africa, Germany, Egypt, Zimbabwe, the United States, Russia, and the Netherlands. Malawi currently imports an estimated US$1.625&nbsp;billion in goods per year, with the main commodities being food, petroleum products, consumer goods, and transportation equipment. The main countries that Malawi imports from are South Africa, India, Zambia, Tanzania, the US, and China.<ref name="CIA" />

In 2006, in response to disastrously low agricultural harvests, Malawi began a programme of [[fertilizer]] subsidies, the Fertiliser Input Subsidy Programme (FISP) that was designed to re-energise the land and boost crop production. It has been reported that this programme, championed by the country's president, is radically improving Malawi's agriculture, and causing Malawi to become a net exporter of food to nearby countries.<ref>{{cite news|author=Dugger, Celia W.|title=Ending Famine, Simply by Ignoring the Experts|date=2 December 2007|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/world/africa/02malawi.html|access-date=5 August 2008}}</ref> The FISP fertiliser subsidy programmes ended with President Mutharika's death; the country quickly faced food shortages again, and farmers developed reluctance to purchase fertilisers and other agricultural inputs on the open markets that remained.{{cn|date=April 2024}}

In 2016, Malawi was hit by a drought, and in January 2017, the country reported an outbreak of [[African armyworm|armyworms]] around Zomba. The moth is capable of wiping out entire fields of corn, the staple grain of impoverished residents.<ref>{{cite news|title=Malawi hit by armyworm outbreak, threatens maize crop|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-malawi-grains-armyworms-idUSKBN14W0NT?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews|access-date=12 January 2017|work=Reuters|date=12 January 2017}}</ref> On 14 January 2017, the agriculture minister [[George Chaponda]] reported that 2,000 hectares of crop had been destroyed, having spread to nine of twenty-eight districts.<ref>{{cite news|title=Malawi's armyworm outbreak destroys 2,000 hectares: minister|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-malawi-grains-armyworm-idUSKBN14Y0DK?il=0|access-date=14 January 2017|work=Reuters|date=14 January 2017}}</ref>