Malawi’s Land Laws and Agricultural Commercialization: Recommendations from a Land Symposium

The Second Malawi Land Symposium was organized by the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development (MoLHUD) in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development (MoAWD) with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the New Alliance Policy Acceleration Support (NAPAS: Malawi) Project and the European Union (EU)-funded Land Governance Project. The symposium brought together 106 participants (22 female) from: government ministries and departments; the private sector; Civil Society Organizations; Farmer Organizations; Development Partners; research and the academia; the media; and others. The aim of the symposium was to provide a venue for dialogue on the newly adopted land laws and explain what they entail for agricultural development in Malawi. The symposium also aimed at providing information on the status of land-related policy reform commitments, under the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, which include: 1) Identify land in phases, suitable for large-scale commercial agriculture (10,000 ha/year from 2013) every year; 2) Enactment of the new Land Bill into law1; 3) Introduction of agricultural zoning based on priority crops and growth