Abstract

Food insecurity in rural Malawi remains widespread despite decades of irrigation investment and policies promoting inclusive agricultural development. Climate-related risks, such as frequent floods, droughts, and prolonged dry spells, have increased pressure on smallholder farmers to adopt irrigation as a supplement to rainfed agriculture. This study investigates women’s and youth’s access to land and irrigation water in four irrigation schemes (total area: 184.5 ha) in Machinga District, Southern Malawi. Employing a mixed-methods convergent parallel design, the research combined 378 household surveys, 16 key informant interviews, and 8 focus group discussions.Logistic regression analysis showed that wealth quintile was the strongest and most consistent predictor of access outcomes. Wealthier households were significantly less likely to practise irrigation (OR = 0.607, 95% CI: 0.399–0.923, p < 0.05), access irrigation land (OR = 0.592, 95% CI: 0.390–0.900, p < 0.05), and access irrigation water (OR = 0.505, 95% CI: 0.325–0.784, p < 0.01), indicating livelihood diversification away from agriculture. Institutional support reached only 9% of households and was negatively associated with irrigation practice and land access, highlighting poor programme targeting. Although women constituted 85% of the sample and 94% of support recipients, gender was not a significant predictor of access within schemes, suggesting that gender disparities primarily occur at the point of scheme entry rather than in internal resource distribution. These findings challenge conventional assumptions regarding poverty and gender as primary barriers to irrigation and underscore the need for institutional reforms that better align support programmes with farmers’ actual livelihood strategies.

Publication status

Published - 2026