What If the Farming System We have Been Promoting Is Actually Making Poverty, Hunger and Climate Change Worse?
For decades, governments across Southern Africa have poured billions of dollars into industrial agriculture, subsidising chemical fertilisers, promoting hybrid seeds, and encouraging monoculture farming.
The promise? Higher yields, economic growth, food security, but the reality tells a different story.
In Malawi, 80% of the population lives in poverty, with 1.2 million people surviving on less than $1.20 a day.
In Zambia, 48% of people cannot meet their daily calorie needs.
Across the region, soils are degrading, water bodies are contaminated and climate impacts are intensifying.
Meanwhile, agroecology, a farming approach rooted in ecological principles, social justice and local knowledge, has been quietly delivering results.
So which system truly serves the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?
Let us compare them goal by goal.
The SDG Showdown: Industrial Agriculture vs. Agroecology
The Kusamala Institute of Agriculture and Ecology’s 2023 policy brief lays out a powerful comparison. Here is what it reveals, expanded to the Southern African context.
SDG 1: No Poverty
| Industrial Agriculture | Agroecology |
| Drives poverty through rising input costs (fertilisers, pesticides, hybrid seeds) that smallholders can not afford | Keeps money in local economies by reducing reliance on purchased inputs |
| Degrades soil fertility over time, reducing long-term earning potential | Builds soil health naturally, ensuring sustained productivity |
| Creates dependency on volatile global markets and corporate suppliers | Supports local food chains and circular economies |
In Malawi, 80% of the population is considered poor, with industrial farming contributing to lower farm earnings globally due to rising input costs and degrading ecosystem services.
In Zambia, Agroecological maize farming delivers $320 profit per 2500 square meters, nearly double conventional methods ($197) by cutting input costs while maintaining yields (PELUM Zambia, 2024).
SDG 2: Zero Hunger
| Industrial Agriculture | Agroecology |
| Focuses on a few cash crops (maize, rice) at the expense of diverse, nutritious foods | Produces a diversity of foods to ensure sufficient and nutritious food for all |
| Creates systems vulnerable to environmental stress (droughts, floods, pests) | Harnesses ecosystem benefits (pollination, natural pest control) to boost resilience |
| Encourages monocultures that fail when climate shocks hit | Increases productivity while reducing food insecurity and poverty |
SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being
| Industrial Agriculture | Agroecology |
| Poisons air, water and soil with toxic chemicals that end up in food | Advocates for no use of chemical inputs |
| Focuses on high-calorie, low-nutrient crops, leading to malnutrition | Produces food with higher levels of antioxidants and fewer pesticide residues |
| Contributes to rising non-communicable diseases (obesity, diabetes) | Supports brain development in children through nutrient-dense, chemical-free food |
SDG 4: Quality Education
| Industrial Agriculture | Agroecology |
| Marginalises traditional and indigenous knowledge in favour of Western science | Acknowledges multiple knowledge systems (traditional, indigenous, scientific) |
| Creates education systems disconnected from local context and lived experience | Emphasises peer-to-peer learning and practical, relevant knowledge sharing |
| Children can not learn effectively if they aree malnourished | Produces nutritious food essential for brain development and learning |
In practice: Agroecology draws on relevant scientific expertise where needed, but centres local wisdom, ensuring education serves communities, not just corporations.
SDG 5: Gender Equality
| Industrial Agriculture | Agroecology |
| Deepens gender inequalities, women own less land, have less control over production choices, earn less | Views women as central to food and farming systems |
| Excludes women from decision-making and market access | Advances women’s rights, self-determination, and autonomy |
| Reinforces patriarchal structures in agriculture | Increases household dietary scores when gender equity is addressed (SFHC research) |
SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
| Industrial Agriculture | Agroecology |
| High chemical residues contaminate water bodies, harming people and wildlife | Promotes practices that optimise water use and enhance soil water retention |
| Large-scale irrigation depletes water sources in water-scarce regions | Orients crop selection to those needing less or no irrigation |
| Contributes to cholera outbreaks through water contamination | Restores ecosystem functioning, including wetlands that purify water |
In Malawi, unsustainable practices contribute to water contamination, with agricultural chemicals running off into water bodies, causing flash floods, mudslides, and poisoning.
SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
| Industrial Agriculture | Agroecology |
| Relies heavily on fossil fuels for cooking, transport and industrial production | Reduces energy consumption through active resource recycling |
| Benefits large farms and corporations with public infrastructure investments | Position energy governance at the territorial level—inclusive, equitable, transparent |
| Most rural dwellers remain energy poor | Reduces need for irrigation through enhanced soil cover and avoids chemical inputs (which require fossil fuels to produce) |
SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
| Industrial Agriculture | Agroecology |
| Economic benefits accrue to those in power (corporate landowners, input suppliers) | Creates new decent rural employment opportunities for youth and women |
| Pushes risk down the value chain onto workers and the environment | Increases resilience of production systems, helping maintain existing jobs |
| Workers receive little benefit from the system | Prioritises people and planet over profits |
The vision: Agroecology builds strong local value chains that distribute benefits at the local level, first supporting rural livelihoods and communities.
SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
| Industrial Agriculture | Agroecology |
| Innovations owned by international corporations are designed to maximise profit | Reorients ownership and control of innovations back to local contexts |
| Strong intellectual property regimes trap farmers on a “seed treadmill” | Co-creates and shares knowledge; develops appropriate technologies for smallholders |
| Farmers must always buy seed—they can not save and reuse it | Emphasises labour-saving devices that do not harm the environment |
SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
| Industrial Agriculture | Agroecology |
| Capital (land, resources, finance) accumulates for those in power | Emphasises inclusion of the most vulnerable (rural women, youth, indigenous peoples) |
| Smallholder farmers, especially women and youth, lose access to land | Focuses on building strong local food systems, addressing local challenges |
| Deepens inequality and drives urban migration | Supports circular and solidarity economies that reconnect producers and consumers |
SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
| Industrial Agriculture | Agroecology |
| Promotes dependencies on imported foods, making urban consumers vulnerable to price spikes | Supports a territorial approach to human spaces—integrated urban and rural development |
| Food riots and social unrest result from supply shocks (e.g., COVID-19, Russia-Ukraine war) | Reconnects producers and consumers, shortening value chains and increasing resilience |
SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
| Industrial Agriculture | Agroecology |
| Drives resource degradation and damages human health | Focuses on production that does not harm the environment |
| About 385 million cases of pesticide poisoning occur yearly worldwide | Encourages diversification for sustainable, healthy diets and food security |
| Wastes resources through long global distribution chains | Supports shorter value chains—less food loss, less fossil fuel use for transport and cooling |
SDG 13: Climate Action
| Industrial Agriculture | Agroecology |
| Drives climate change through chemical use, large-scale mechanisation and long distribution chains | Mitigates climate change by keeping carbon in the soil |
| Extraction and manufacture of chemical inputs contribute to greenhouse gas emissions | Uses little or no external chemical inputs; maintains integrated production systems |
| Malawi will experience more climate-driven extreme events, impacting food production | Builds healthy agricultural ecosystems more resilient to climate shocks |
| Offers a triple win: reduces emissions, builds resilience and productivity and absorbs carbon into soils and trees |
SDG 14: Life Below Water
| Industrial Agriculture | Agroecology |
| Agricultural chemicals run off into water bodies, causing flash floods and poisoning aquatic life | Emphasises saving water in soil through sustainable practices (cover crops, composting) |
| Poverty drives over-fishing of water bodies like Lake Malawi | Encourages water harvesting for domestic and farming use |
| Water safety concerns highlighted by cholera outbreaks and cyclone destruction | A 2021 study across 57 countries found all crops on 286 farms used less water, with most improvement in rain-fed crops (Christian Aid, 2021) |
SDG 15: Life on Land
| Industrial Agriculture | Agroecology |
| Malawi is rapidly losing forest cover, which could disappear by 2079 | Diversity is the first of the 10 elements in the agroecological approach |
| Deforestation leads to biodiversity loss, wildlife decline and changing micro-climates | Works with local communities to prevent land degradation and restore degraded areas |
| The growing demand for hardwoods and domestic energy needs drives tree cutting | A 2021 study showed “sustainable and resource-conserving practices” improved “the supply of critical environmental services” across 280+ sites in 57 countries |
SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions
| Industrial Agriculture | Agroecology |
| Systemically unjust—benefits large commercial actors (multinational input companies, supermarket chains) | Promotes strong, inclusive producer organisations for knowledge sharing and fair representation |
| Malawi ranked 129 of 180 countries in public sector corruption (2020) | Supports responsible governance of food and farming systems—transparent, equitable, just, accountable |
| Ensuring peace and justice for rural communities requires transforming the current food system | Views food as a human right, not a commodity |
SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals
| Industrial Agriculture | Agroecology |
| Based on unequal trade relations, corporate companies influence the government and international frameworks | Supports collaboration between a wide range of stakeholders (farmers, consumers, CSOs, policymakers) |
| More than 60% of the commercial seed trade and 70% of agricultural chemicals are controlled by just three companies (Bayer, ChemChina, DowDupont) | Calls for greater cooperation between the food/farming sector, social stakeholders and governments |
| Undue corporate influence ensures biased partnerships | Active global, regional and national agroecology networks advocate for fair, inclusive, equitable, sustainable food systems |
The Bottom Line: Two Paths, Two Futures
| Industrial Agriculture | Agroecology |
| Extractive, exploitative, external | Regenerative, inclusive, local |
| Short-term yields at long-term cost | Sustainable productivity for generations |
| Concentrates power and profit | Distributes benefits and dignity |
| Works against nature | Works with nature |
| Leaves no one behind? No, it pushes millions further behind | Leaves no one behind centres the most vulnerable |
Choose the Future You Want to See
The evidence is clear. The choice is ours.
If you are a policymaker:
- Redirect agricultural subsidies from chemical inputs toward agroecological training and infrastructure
- Recognise agroecology in national climate action plans and SDG reporting
- Support KHSA partners (SFHC Malawi, PELUM Zambia, KATC, PGS SA, NNF) scaling proven solutions
If you are a farmer:
- Start small: try botanical sprays (mtetezga, chisoyo) on one plot
- Make fermented liquid bio-fertiliser using the KATC method
- Join or form a PGS group to verify and share your organic practices
If you are an advocate or citizen:
- Share this comparison with your MP, local council, or community group
- Demand that national budgets reflect the SDGs, not corporate interests
- Support local farmers growing diverse, chemical-free food
Join the Southern African Agroecology Movement
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Author: Rabecca Mwila
Rabecca Mwila is a passionate advocate for sustainable agriculture and environmental stewardship. With a background in climate change and communications, she has spent years telling the untold stories of the realities of climate change, environmental and climate injustices and how they affect vulnerable communities in Africa and beyond
