Malawi shifts perspective on land reforms in a bid to retain investors

Malawi has revised its position on proposed land restrictions that would limit land acquisition for agricultural purposes to 1,000 hectares and make it impossible for foreigners to own land in the country. The reforms, which provided the government broad powers to confiscate undeveloped land two years after acquisition and decide whether expired leases should be extended, were criticized as populist and sparked concerns that they would frighten investors. The legislation also placed restrictions on the sale of private land to noncitizens. The land laws amended in 2022 were according to the government meant to solve challenges faced by thousands of landless subsistence farmers mostly from southern Malawi who have been fighting for their ancestral land, which they claim was illegally acquired by foreign large-scale farmers. However, the amendments sparked outrage and were unpopular among large-scale farmers whose expansion interests were threatened by the 1,000 ha land holding ceilings. The government said its U-turn is in the best interest of both the landless subsistence farmers and the commercial farmers. Malawi’s principal secretary for Lands, Devie Chilonga, told local media that problematic sections of the land reforms have been deleted to match the law with Malawians’ desires. “The ceilings were some of the proposals that some stakeholders had submitted to the ministry to be part of the regulations. However, during consultation workshops that the ministry conducted, the majority were against such elaboration; hence, they were dropped to respect the views of the majority,” Chigoga told Malawi’s Nation News media outlet. The amendments could have had a detrimental impact on the country’s economy, which is primarily agricultural. Agriculture generates over 80% of national export revenues and employs 64% of the workforce, accounting for 30% of the country’s gross domestic product. The final draft of the revised laws is yet to be made available as the Ministry of Lands continues to engage with concerned stakeholders including the Ministry of Justice, which will produce the final draft for gazetting. But some stakeholders have expressed optimism about the removal of the 1,000-hectare, land-holding ceiling. At the same time, landless subsistence farmers argue that the government needs to consider their plight when finalizing the new law. According to Stanley Sazuze, a landless farmer from Mulanje district in Southern Malawi, while the government wants to attract foreign investment by shifting its perspective on the 2022 controversial land laws it also has to consider the interests of the landless farmers he said are being pushed in abject poverty because of their landlessness. “We hope the revised amendments will not only focus on the interests of the large-scale farmers, subsistence farmers also need to benefit from the revision,” Sazuze said. The Malawi government has been trying to address the problem of landless people in the two Malawian districts of Mulanje and Thyolo. Malawi has around 4 million families engaged in subsistence farming and Sazuze argued that while the land debate in southern Malawi started with disappointed landless people encroaching on large-scale farms, the government needs to come up with a solution where landless families should be provided with land. Vincent Wandale, a land rights campaigner, told Devex the government’s shift on the laws gives it a chance to develop land legislation that is good for all Malawians and can also attract foreign agriculture sector investment. He stated that the government must now tread cautiously on land legislation to create a land policy that encourages investors while also protecting the rights of indigenous landless people. The World Bank, which in its December 2022 edition of the Malawi Economic Monitor stated the land amendments were seen as introducing additional obstacles to operating a commercial farm, said in July that the Malawian and international experience show that the success of large-scale farming initiatives depends on private sector involvement and conducive and enabling environment. The bank, however, said while studies have found that large-scale farms can have positive spillovers, previous studies indicate that Malawi’s existing large-scale farms tend to be less productive than small holdings. Restructuring land laws has proven to be tricky for many African countries. In Zimbabwe, for example, the land reforms program led to the collapse of the country’s economy, hyperinflation, mass starvation, and exodus of the country’s productive workforce into neighboring South Africa. Zimbabwe, previously considered Africa’s breadbasket, became a country dependent on aid. South Africa has however been careful to fully implement their land reforms program due to the historical, social, and economic complexities surrounding the exercise. In South Africa, different opinion holders argue that the land reform process can impact agricultural productivity and investment affecting the overall economy. As has been the case in Zimbabwe, South Africans fear that the redistributed land might not be effectively utilized or managed, leading to inefficiencies and reduced productivity. Meanwhile, some foreign investors in Malawi who were concerned about the 2022 amendments said the government’s shift in perspective on the land laws presents an opportunity for the country to attract more foreign investment in the agriculture sector. “The change means that investors who could be scared to invest in Malawi because of its unfavorable land laws will be attracted to come and invest in the country,” one investor told Devex on condition of anonymity. Napoleon Dzombe, a well-known agricultural investor in Malawi, agrees that the postponed laws were not just detrimental to investors. “Investing in agriculture is a long-term process that cannot be completed in a year or two, so clauses requiring an investor to develop land within two years or risk losing the land were counterproductive,” said Dzombe.