Food Insecurity in Informal Settlements in Lilongwe Malawi

Although there is widespread food availability in urban areas
across the Global South, it is not correlated with universal access to
adequate amounts of nutritious foods. This report is based on a
household survey conducted in 2015 in six low-income informal areas in
Malawi’s capital city, where three-quarters of the population live in
informal settlements. Understanding the dimensions of household food
insecurity in these neighbourhoods is critical to sustainable and
inclusive growth in Lilongwe. The survey findings provide a
complementary perspective to the 2008 AFSUN survey conducted in
Blantyre, which suggested a level of food security in urban Malawi that
was probably more typical of peri-urban areas where many people farm.
Given that informal settlements house most of Malawi’s urban residents,
the Lilongwe research presents a serious public policy challenge for the
country’s leaders. Poverty is a profound problem in Malawi’s rapidly
expanding cities. Of particular concern is the poor quality of diets
among residents of informal settlements. Precarity of income, reflected
in the survey findings of frequent purchasing of staple foods and the
need for food sellers to extend credit, appears to be a key driver of
food insecurity in these communities. Economically inclusive growth,
with better prospects for stable employment and protection for
informal-sector workers, appears to be the surest route to improved
urban food security in Malawi.