Briefing Paper

Gender, Agriculture and Climate Change in Malawi

Agriculture is essential to the Malawian economy and is a key livelihood activity – but it is vulnerable to
climate change. Gender inequality results from different gender roles – what we deem appropriate behaviour for men and women in society. Both men and women have key roles to play in agriculture, and understanding gender differences can enable better design and targeting of interventions that reduce vulnerability to climate change and contribute to gender equality. Key activities to support gender-equitable climate-smart agriculture include:
1) Sex-disaggregated data collection to identify and monitor gender differences
2) Provision of targeted climate services.
Recognition of gender differences can enable more equitable outcomes from current agricultural policy, including: a) Climate-smart agriculture b) The model village approach c) Irrigation.