Malawi launches CGIAR Policy Innovation Hub: Powering inclusive and resilient food systems with evidence-led policy action
The Malawi Policy Innovation Hub, launched in February 2026, serves as a "one-stop shop" to translate agricultural research into actionable policy. By aligning CGIAR’s global expertise with national priorities, the Hub addresses fragmented coordination and implementation gaps to foster a resilient, inclusive, and market-driven food system.
Malawi has no shortage of agricultural research, data, or policy recommendations. What it continues to wrestle with is how to translate that evidence into timely, coordinated, and implementable policy action. It is this challenge, bridging the gap between evidence and implementation, that was central at the launch of the CGIAR Policy Innovations Hub in Malawi, convened by IFPRI and IITA on February 26, 2026.
Bringing together policymakers, researchers, development partners, private sector actors, academia, and farmers, the event marked more than the launch of a new platform. It opened a frank national conversation about why food systems transformation remains elusive, and what must change for Malawi to move decisively toward resilience, inclusivity, and growth.
A policy platform embedded in national priorities
The CGIAR Policy Innovation Hub is intended to serve as a “one-stop shop” for policy engagement, connecting national partners with CGIAR’s collective policy expertise across centers. As Clemens Breisinger, Director of CGIAR’s Policy Innovations Science Program, emphasized, the Hub is not about producing more research for its own sake. Rather, it is about co-creating demand-driven evidence, aligning it with national priorities, and supporting policy change that is both technically sound and politically feasible.
IFPRI Director General Johan Swinnen, in recorded remarks, framed the Hub as a mechanism for strengthening national leadership in policymaking. “Policy Innovation Hubs link CGIAR’s global expertise with national research and policy systems,” he said. “By building analytical capacity and supporting collaborative research, they help ensure that policies are not only evidence-based, but also locally owned and implementable.”
Speaking on behalf of IITA leadership, IITA Deputy Director General Tahirou Abdoulaye stressed that policy is the connective tissue of agricultural transformation. “If we want agricultural transformation, policy is not optional, and country engagement is essential,” he said, noting that the Hub aligns with CGIAR’s and IITA’s renewed emphasis on country‑level impact, coordination, and evidence use amid a rapidly changing global funding landscape.
Officially launching the Hub, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development (MoAIWD), Honorable Thoko Tembo emphasized that Malawi’s development ambitions hinge on stronger policy coherence and execution. “We have articulated our food systems priorities clearly,” he noted, “but our challenge has been translating those priorities into consistent, evidence-informed decisions that deliver results at scale.” The Policy Innovation Hub, he said, is intended to serve as a practical interface between research, policy formulation, and implementation.
The Hub is part of CGIAR’s global Policy Innovations Science Program and is designed as a country‑embedded platform that aligns international research expertise with national policy processes. In Malawi, it is jointly coordinated by IFPRI and IITA, reflecting a long-standing partnership with government institutions on food systems analysis, policy reform, and implementation support.
Collaboration is necessary, but not sufficient…
A multi-stakeholder panel in the first session highlighted broad consensus on the importance of partnerships but also surfaced hard truths about why collaboration often fails to translate into impact. The panel consisted of representatives from across key sectors: academia, Emmanuel Kaunda, Vice Chancellor of Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR); government, Grace Kaudzu, Director of the Department of Agricultural Research Services; Development partners, Marco Vacirca, Programme Manager at European Union Delegation; the private sector, Martin Isyagi, Executive Director of MUSECO seed company; and farmers, Grace Gondwe, a farmer and founder of Jumpha agro services. Panelists agreed that Malawi’s policy challenges are not rooted in a lack of ideas. Instead, they stem from fragmented coordination, weak implementation capacity, and misaligned incentives.
Several themes stood out: Academic leaders called for stronger recognition of universities as central actors in food systems innovation, not only generating research, but building skills and translational infrastructure to move ideas from lab to market. Private sector representatives emphasized that research must be market-driven and sustainably financed if innovations are to reach scale. Government officials pointed to duplication and inefficiencies arising from the absence of a national agricultural research policy, now under development.
Perhaps most striking were the contributions from farmers. Representing smallholder perspectives, Grace Gondwe challenged institutions to stop designing policies for farmers without designing them with farmers. For many producers, she noted, weak regulation, fake inputs, and unequal market power undermine their ability to compete, invest, and commercialize.
Panelists (from left to right): Dr. Grace Kaudzu, Director of the Department of Agricultural Research Services (DARS), Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development; Mr. Marco Vacirca, Programme Manager, Delegation of the European Union to Malawi; Prof. Emmanuel Kaunda, Vice Chancellor, Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources; Mr. Martin Isyagi, Director of MUSECO Seed Company; and Ms. Grace Gondwe, farmer and founder of Jumpha Agro Services.
Evidence gaps and political constraints still limit progress
The afternoon policy dialogue shifted the focus from partnership to diagnosis; examining where Malawi’s food systems are underperforming and where evidence gaps persist.
Presentation from the National Planning Commission positioned agri‑food systems at the center of Malawi’s development trajectory, demonstrating how progress toward lower‑middle‑income status and multiple Sustainable Development Goals depends on productivity, industrialization, infrastructure, and human capital advancing together.
Research institutions, including MwAPATA and IFPRI, presented evidence on persistent structural constraints such as declining soil health, shrinking farm sizes, volatile markets, chronic food insecurity, and macroeconomic instability. Several analyses challenged widely held assumptions, particularly the idea that subsistence farming can deliver food security under current demographic and economic pressures.
A central theme was the implementation gap between policy design and outcomes, especially in large‑scale programs. Comparative political economy analysis of fertilizer subsidy reforms illustrated why technically strong recommendations often stall, and why timing, coalition‑building, and institutional incentives matter as much as evidence. As several speakers noted, research is necessary but rarely sufficient on its own.
Government perspectives on food systems coordination highlighted important progress, including strengthened governance structures, nutrition‑sensitive agriculture initiatives, and climate resilience investments. At the same time, officials acknowledged ongoing challenges in monitoring and evaluation, cross‑sector coordination, and district‑level implementation.
Looking ahead, participants identified priority evidence needs for the coming planning cycles. These included subsidy reform, diversification pathways, land governance, youth inclusion, food loss and waste, and policies to support agricultural exports and private sector participation. Across these areas, the call was clear: policy research must be anticipatory, politically informed, and closely aligned with decision‑making timelines.
Towards evidence that informs action
As the discussions made clear, Malawi’s greatest constraint is not a lack of evidence, but the challenge of aligning that evidence with political processes, institutional capacity, and implementation realities.
In closing remarks, IFPRI Malawi Program Leader Joachim De Weerdt urged a shift in how researchers engage with policymaking. “Policy is where development succeeds or fails,” he observed. “That means researchers must move beyond delivering policy advice to acting as policy advisors, working alongside decision-makers to navigate trade-offs, political constraints, and feasible solutions.”
Readwell Musopole, Deputy Director of Planning in the MoAIWD, reaffirmed government’s commitment to immediately collaborate with the Hub for inclusive dialogues in food systems transformation. “We are not short of recommendations,” he noted. “What has been missing is a platform that consistently turns research into action. This policy hub gives us an opportunity to inject well‑researched evidence directly into decision-making processes.”
The CGIAR Policy Innovation Hub in Malawi now provides that platform. Priority policy gaps have now been documented for implementation starting with evidence generation and convening actors across sectors, aligning research with policy cycles, and focusing on uptake as much as analysis. The Hub aims to help Malawi move from repeated diagnosis toward sustained, evidence‑led policy action, at a time when the cost of inaction is rising.
