How the rich world can help Africa help itself

When heads of state from the world's richest countries gather in Heiligendamm, Germany, next week for this year's summit of the Group of Eight leading industrialised nations, they would most benefit the poor in Africa by first looking at what Africa is doing for itself. News from Malawi, one of the world's poorest countries, suggests a powerful way forward in the fight against hunger and poverty. If G8 countries scale up their support to these homegrown efforts – as they promised two years ago in Gleneagles – the fight can be won.

In 2005, Malawi's maize harvest was one of the worst ever. A dry spell in February of that year cut yields. National production was just 1.2m tonnes – 29 per cent less than in the previous year and 45 per cent less than the national requirement. The United Nations issued an appeal in August 2005, seeking food aid for the immediate hunger, but also fertilisers and seeds for the coming growing season. Donors responded quickly with food aid, but gave little support for fertilisers or seeds. By November, almost 5m Malawians faced food shortages and hunger, and the prospect of another disastrous growing season in 2006. Hunger and extreme poverty are known to increase the incidence of many killer diseases, unleash gender-based violence and theft, and decrease dramatically the rates of school attendance by children. An apocalyptic conclusion seemed to be all but assured.

Despite the opposition of some of Malawi's donors, President Bingu wa Mutharika and his team introduced a bold farm-input subsidy programme to pre-empt the famine. At a cost of $60m, roughly $5 per Malawian, the government provided seed and fertiliser at reduced cost to more than 1m small-scale maize farmers. This represented a huge financial burden for Malawi's government, but would have been a pittance for the rich world.