Running to Stand Still: Small-Scale Farmers and the Green Revolution in Malawi

This African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) report is based on field work conducted in Malawi, titled "Running to stand still: Small-scale farmers and the Green Revolution in Malawi." The research, conducted by the ACB in collaboration with the National Smallholder Farmers' Association of Malawi (NASFAM), Kusamala Institute of Agriculture and Ecology and Dr Blessings Chinsinga from the University of Malawi, does not validate the argument that Malawi is a Green Revolution success story. On the contrary, the research highlights the plight of small-scale farmers at the receiving end of the Green Revolution (GR) push in Malawi. Among its findings are that farmers are trapped in a cycle of debt and dependency on costly external inputs with limited long-term benefit, and that the natural resource base is being degraded and eroded despite – or perhaps because of - GR inputs.