Studying aquaculture-agriculture integration for food security in Malawi
Malawi faces chronic food insecurity rooted in extreme poverty, climate shocks, and low agricultural productivity. The Cooperative Development Foundation of Canada (CDF Canada) launched the Integrating Aquaculture–Agriculture to Combat Food Insecurity in Malawi (IAAM) Project in 2024 to improve incomes, nutrition, and women's empowerment for smallholder fish farmers. 3ie is conducting the first large-scale randomized controlled trial of the aquaculture intervention in Malawi, covering 160 extension planning area sections across eight districts, to rigorously assess the project's impact on productivity, food security, and gender equity.
IAAM Working paper
3ie’s 2025 baseline survey covered 2,498 smallholder fish-farming households across eight Malawi districts. The report confirms randomization balance across treatment and control arms and establishes pre-intervention benchmarks for aquaculture productivity, dietary diversity, food insecurity, and women's decision-making — the foundation for measuring project impact at endline. Read paper
About the project
Malawi is home to over 5.4 million people at risk of moderate to severe food insecurity. The crisis is driven by a cycle of extreme poverty, recurrent climate shocks, and low agricultural productivity. Aquaculture contributes four per cent of Malawi's GDP and has significant potential to address the country's food insecurity, particularly for women, who make up 38.5 per cent of the estimated 17,000 smallholder fish farmers.
Fish accounts for 28 per cent of animal protein intake in Malawi, and per-capita consumption has been rising. Yet smallholder fish farmers face structural constraints: low-quality fingerlings, weak extension services, limited market and credit access, and poor integration across value chains.
The IAAM project, launched in 2024 by CDF Canada in partnership with local organizations, aims to break this cycle by integrating fish farming with crops, livestock, and agroforestry — known as an Integrated Aquaculture–Agriculture System. The project components span six intervention areas:
- Co-operative and value chain development
- Climate resilience in aquaculture and agriculture
- Agriculture market diversification
- Women's rights and gender equality
- Sexual and reproductive health and rights
- Forestry and biodiversity restoration
3ie is the independent evaluation partner, conducting what is, to our knowledge, the first large-scale, rigorous randomized controlled trial (RCT) of an aquaculture intervention in Malawi. The evaluation — funded with support from Norway — is designed to assess the causal impacts of the first three project components on aquaculture productivity, household income, food security, dietary diversity, and women's empowerment.
Our approach
The evaluation uses a clustered, two-armed RCT with extension planning area sections (EPAS) as the unit of randomization — the lowest tier of Malawi's agricultural extension system and the primary point of service delivery to farmers. A total of 160 EPAS across eight districts were randomly assigned to treatment or control arms.
Baseline data collection was completed in early 2025, covering 2,498 households across 154 EPAS. Surveys were administered to both male and female respondents to capture aquaculture, agriculture, nutrition, and women's empowerment outcomes. A community survey and a small and medium enterprises (SME) survey complemented the household data. The endline is expected in 2028, with final impact analysis in 2029.
Evaluation geography
The eight project districts span all three regions of Malawi:
- Northern: Chitipa, Mzimba, Rumphi
- Central: Dowa, Nkhotakota, Ntchisi
- Southern: Thyolo, Zomba
Primary outcomes measured
- Aquaculture productivity and income (fish yield per m², income from fish sales)
- Adoption of IAAS practices (integration of fish with crops, livestock, and agroforestry)
- Household food security (Food Insecurity Experience Scale — FIES)
- Dietary diversity (Household Dietary Diversity Score — HDDS across 12 food groups)
- Women's participation in decision-making in aquaculture and agriculture
Key baseline findings
The baseline survey confirms that randomization achieved balance across treatment and control arms, providing a strong basis for causal impact estimation at endline. Key findings include:
- District-level analysis reveals substantial geographic variation. Northern districts (Rumphi, Dowa) show higher cooperative participation and aquaculture knowledge. Southern districts (Thyolo, Zomba, Nkhotakota) report the highest proportions of severe food insecurity.
- Pond management practices, fish species cultivated, and market engagement differ considerably across districts, informing where targeted support will have the greatest impact.
- Women are actively engaged in aquaculture activities but their control over income and key production decisions remains limited. Attitudes toward women's pond ownership and equal income control are broadly positive (over 90% agreement), yet social acceptance of women in market-facing roles — transporting or selling fish — remains more constrained, highlighting a priority area for the project's gender integration component.
