Climate extremes, policies confuse crop choices for Malawi farmers

Lilongwe, Malawi

ELIAS Kanyangale is ecstatic about his maize harvest. Balancing on a homemade ladder, the farmer retrieves cobs from a full granary, the bounty of this year's good rains, which broke three years of drought in Malawi.

Mr Kanyangale, 44, from Kalumbu village, part of the capital city Lilongwe, says his five-tonne harvest of maize is double the previous year's crop, and he has some soya beans too.

But he is still worried about his income. "I am not sure I will get good prices for my crop. I planted more maize for home consumption and more soya beans for sale because the rains were good after the drought of last year, but…