Where We Work Malawi

For families across Malawi, agriculture is central to earning an income, feeding their families, and building a more secure future. But smallholder farmers face persistent challenges such as accessing quality agricultural inputs and financial services, finding reliable markets, and climate disasters.

In Malawi, AgFinance works alongside farmers to address these challenges. By connecting farmers with agricultural training, financial services, savings groups, digital tools, and other resources, AgFinance supports farmers as they work to grow more and earn more.

As of June 2025, AgFinance has reached 406,460 farmers in Malawi and released $84.07 million to farmers through partnerships with financial institutions. More than 255,000 farmers have also been supported through Farmer Support Agents (FSAs).

A savings group meeting in Malawi.

AgFinance Programming

AgFinance services in Malawi are an excellent example of how AgFinance programming overlaps and supports farmers by prioritizing FSA, FSPs, and savings groups.

Farmer Support Agents (FSAs) are selected from the communities where they work and trained to provide farmers with localized agricultural and business training. Using smartphones, videos, and other tools, FSAs visit farms and lead sessions on topics such as Good Agricultural Practices and Farming as a Family Business. They also help farmers strengthen connections with suppliers, warehouses, and markets through group purchasing and sales agreements.

Savings groups give farmers another way to save, access loans, and learn together. Through Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs), farmers build financial knowledge and strengthen the networks that support their businesses and households.

A women’s savings group in Malawi.

AgFinance also partners with Financial Service Providers (FSPs) to expand farmers’ access to formal financial services. These partnerships help financial institutions better serve smallholder farmers and create pathways to the capital they need to invest in their farms and businesses.

The FSPs that partner with AgFinance in Malawi include: Centenary Bank Malawi Limited, CUMO Microfinance Limited, First Capital Bank Malawi, FINCA Malawi, MicroLoan Foundation Malawi, NBS Bank Limited, and Standard Bank Malawi

Thriving Rural Communities

The Thriving Rural Communities project brings AgFinance and Opportunity’s EduFinance program together to address the interconnected challenges facing families in rural Malawi.

Agricultural instability can affect household income and school attendance. Limited financial access can make it harder for families to plan for the future, and gaps in agricultural knowledge, education, and community services can limit opportunities for entire communities.

A demo plot at a school in Malawi

The project addresses these challenges through:

·      Agriculture capacity building: FSAs provide training in Farming as a Family Business, financial literacy and savings, group dynamics, and regenerative agriculture. Digital tools such as FarmerAI extend access to technical support.

·      Community ecosystem development: VSLAs, cooperatives, and FSPs help strengthen local financial systems and expand access to financial services.

·      Education and school-based services: EduQuality supports teachers and school leaders through digital learning, in-person training, and mentorship. School demonstration plots also give students, parents, and farmers opportunities to learn sustainable agricultural practices together.

The project also incorporates the Rural Graduation Model, supporting families experiencing extreme poverty with assets, training, coaching, and financial inclusion.

As of September 2025, in Malawi, the project had established 10 school demonstration plots, with women representing 61% of trained farmers.

The Rural Graduation Model

For families living in extreme poverty, traditional financial services and livelihood programs can remain out of reach. In Malawi, AgFinance's Rural Graduation Model is actively stepping in to counter these unique challenges.

The goal is not simply to provide an asset or a short-term source of income, but to help families build the skills, confidence, resources, and connections they need to pursue their own goals, and, as of September 2025, AgFinance has launched four Rural Graduation cohorts serving 690 households.

In Malawi, Regina, a Rural Graduation participant, used the goats and training she received to generate income and replace the roof on her family's home before the rainy season. She also created a "dream map" to visualize her goals and regularly uses it to guide her decisions.

Climate Resilience and RegenAg

Climate shocks can quickly threaten the progress farmers have made. AgFinance is working with partners in Malawi to help farmers and financial institutions prepare for and respond to these risks.

Through its partnership with the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF), Opportunity is exploring climate risk financing and microinsurance solutions designed with farmers and financial service providers. These tools can help protect livelihoods when climate-related shocks threaten farmers’ income and food security.

AgFinance is also helping farmers build agricultural resilience through our RegenAg program. Through FSA-led trainings and demonstration plots at schools, farmers are taught RegenAg practices such as minimizing soil disturbance, soil coverage, etc.

Rose, a smallholder farmer in Malawi who has been utilizing RegenAg practices.

In Malawi, farmers are applying these principles through practices such as intercropping, mulching, composting, soil-cover techniques, organic fertilizer use, and erosion control. This approach has proven to result in increased yields and better resiliency in the face of climate disasters.

Digital Innovation

Technology can also help farmers access information when and where they need it.

FarmerAI, developed and piloted in Malawi, gives farmers access to agricultural advice through WhatsApp. Farmers can ask questions about their crops and animals in Chichewa, and the tool provides conversational responses drawing on ChatGPT and information from Malawi’s government agricultural manual.

The tool includes approved guidance on Good Agricultural Practices, RegenAg, and other agriculture-related questions, giving farmers more timely access to practical information without requiring them to wait for an extension worker to visit their farm.

A farmer using the Ulangizi FarmerAI app.

The success of the Malawi pilot has helped expand the tool into additional languages and countries, creating new opportunities to make agricultural knowledge more accessible to farmers.

AgFinance in Malawi

The challenges facing smallholder farmers are rarely isolated. Agricultural productivity is connected to financial access. Financial stability is connected to education and household wellbeing. And climate resilience increasingly depends on farmers having access to the knowledge, financing, and tools they need to adapt.

That is why AgFinance’s work in Malawi brings together financial services, agricultural training, savings groups, digital innovation, climate resilience, and community-based support.

Across all of these efforts, the goal remains the same: supporting farmers to grow more and earn more.

Chrissy, a smallholder farmer who participated in the Rural Graduation Program, poses for a photo with her son.