IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/maappb/342463.html

The Economic and Social Cost of Land and Soil Degradation in Malawi

Author

Listed:
  • Troosters, Wim
  • Heinrich, Geoff
  • Pearson, Lori
  • Chiwaula, Levison
  • Burke, William J.

Abstract

This policy brief examines the economic and social costs of land and soil degradation in Malawi. With 85% of the rural population reliant on agriculture, soil health is critical for food security and livelihoods. However, approximately 40% of Malawian soils are in poor health, resulting in significant declines in agricultural productivity and economic losses. Malawi loses at least 2.3 million metric tons of maize annually due to soil degradation, with associated GDP losses of up to 2.7% per annum. These losses could begin to be addressed through comprehensive implementation of the Fertilizer and Soil Health Action Plan, emphasizing the need for stakeholder engagement, farmer empowerment, and public awareness.

Suggested Citation

  • Troosters, Wim & Heinrich, Geoff & Pearson, Lori & Chiwaula, Levison & Burke, William J., 2024. "The Economic and Social Cost of Land and Soil Degradation in Malawi," Policy Briefs 342463, Purdue University, Department of Agricultural Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:maappb:342463
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.342463
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/342463/files/PB29_MW%20Cost%20of%20Land%20Degradation.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.342463?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:maappb:342463. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mwapata.mw/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.