Malawi

Malawi is a densely settled, landlocked country where land, water and forests support farming, fishing, housing and small enterprises. Many rural households cultivate small, rainfed plots, while commercial estates occupy substantial land in some districts. Colonial land alienation and later estate expansion left a legacy of unequal access that continues to shape reform debates.

Malawi’s land laws recognize public, customary and private land. The 2016 legislation, amended in 2022, provides a framework for customary land administration and registration. Stronger documentation can improve security, but its benefits depend on inclusive adjudication, accessible institutions and protection of rights that are shared or not yet registered. Land Amendment Act, 2022; Customary Land Regulations, 2024.

• Make customary land registration accessible and protect family, communal and secondary rights during adjudication.
• Ensure women can inherit, document and defend rights and participate in land institutions.
• Address land pressure and historic inequalities between smallholders and estates through transparent processes.
• Manage acquisition, mining, irrigation and conservation in ways that protect livelihoods and provide fair compensation.
• Strengthen resilience to floods and drought while safeguarding access to water, forests and grazing.

Malawi borders Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia. Lake Malawi and the Shire River support fisheries, water supply, irrigation and hydropower. Most livelihoods depend directly or indirectly on agriculture, and many households combine cultivation with wage labor, petty trade and other activities. Land pressure is uneven, with particularly acute constraints in some densely settled southern districts.

The historical USAID profile emphasized the contrast between smallholder food production and commercial estates and the importance of irrigation and soil conservation. These challenges persist, although legal institutions and economic conditions have changed. USAID, 2010; World Bank country overview.

The Land Act and Customary Land Act of 2016 were followed by amendments in 2022. The Land Amendment Act identifies public, customary and private land, provides for access to land subject to availability and means, and prohibits sale of vacant leasehold or freehold land. A commencement notice brought the amendment into force in July 2022.

The Customary Land Act, as amended, governs local administration and customary estates. The 2024 regulations address committees, adjudication, boundary verification, objections and registers. Earlier versions of legislation must be read with amendments rather than treated as the current consolidated text.

Land may be held as public, customary or private land, with different institutions and procedures applying to each. A customary estate is a documented interest arising within the customary land system; its permitted transactions and inheritance are governed by law and applicable procedures. It is not interchangeable with unrestricted freehold. The government’s 2026 account of certificates in Traditional Authority Juma explains that customary estates are not sold and discusses leasing under applicable arrangements.

Registration can provide evidence and a clearer route to resolve disputes, but the absence of a certificate should not be equated with absence of a legitimate claim. Households may hold family land jointly, and a field may also support access routes, grazing or water used by others.

Traditional authorities, group village heads and customary land committees have roles in administering customary land. Rules of access and inheritance differ among communities, including matrilineal and patrilineal settings. Matrilineal descent does not mean that every woman independently controls land or that men have no rights; local residence, marriage and family arrangements also matter.

The 2024 regulations provide for notice, recording claims, inspection and objections during adjudication. Meaningful participation requires identifying family members and secondary users, allowing time to resolve disputes and preserving community resources. A boundary survey that records only the person present may unintentionally narrow others’ rights.

Women are central to food production and resource management but may face obstacles to inheriting, registering or controlling land. In matrilineal communities, lineage affiliation can support women’s claims, yet authority may still be exercised by male relatives. In patrilineal settings, a woman’s access may depend on marriage or the husband’s family. Widows, divorced women and female-headed households can be especially vulnerable where claims are poorly documented.

The amended framework provides for women’s participation in customary land committees. Registration should identify women’s individual and shared rights and ensure that meetings, notices and objection procedures are accessible. The Integrated Land and Resource Governance program’s Malawi report discusses gender-sensitive documentation and the risk that mapping can reproduce unequal power relations.

Land administration involves the ministry responsible for lands, local councils, district land registries, traditional authorities, customary land committees and land clerks. Their roles include adjudication, recordkeeping, allocation and handling objections. Decentralized services can reduce travel and costs, but require trained staff, reliable records, resources and accountability to local users.

In 2026 the agricultural commercialization project reported that 10,485 parcels had been adjudicated and demarcated in Traditional Authority Juma, with certificates issued to farmers. This is a local project result, not national coverage. AGCOM 2. Public inspection of records and correction of errors remain important after mapping.

Reliable land information must connect cadastral records, customary registers, estates, public land, land-use plans and relevant resource rights. A national count of certificates does not show whether overlapping family claims, communal resources or disputes have been resolved. Records need regular updating after inheritance, marriage, lease or boundary changes.

The government’s registration reform description identifies adjudication, demarcation and district registries as priorities. Transparent reporting on coverage, costs, corrections and women’s participation can help communities assess progress without exposing sensitive personal information.

Disputes concern family inheritance, boundaries, overlapping allocations, encroachment and competition between customary users and estates. Local mediation may be quicker and more accessible than formal litigation, but fairness depends on impartial decision-makers and the ability of women, young people and less influential users to be heard.

Clear notices, recorded decisions, affordable appeal routes and protection against intimidation improve accountability. A land certificate can help establish a claim, but does not eliminate the need for due process when records conflict. Authorities should identify all affected users before deciding that a parcel is unused or available for reallocation.

Public works, irrigation schemes, conservation and mining can require land acquisition or restrict access without physically relocating every affected person. Compensation should account for homes, crops, trees and the loss of productive land and shared resources. Payment is most useful when made transparently and in time to secure replacement livelihoods.

Floods and landslides also displace households. Recovery plans need to protect claims to damaged or temporarily abandoned land, identify safe replacement sites where return is unsafe, and include host communities. World Bank disaster-preparedness project.

Growth around Lilongwe, Blantyre and other towns increases demand for housing, infrastructure and commercial sites. Urban expansion can convert customary farmland and create competing claims between residents, landholders and developers. Informal occupants and tenants may have insecure access to services and be omitted from compensation inventories.

Planning should combine secure tenure, drainage, affordable serviced land and meaningful notice before clearance or redevelopment. Transparent public records and accessible complaint channels can help prevent overlapping allocations and speculation. Flood-prone settlements require risk reduction that protects livelihoods and provides fair alternatives when relocation is necessary.

Smallholders grow maize and other food crops as well as tobacco and market crops. Livestock provide income, manure and savings, and grazing may depend on crop residues, commons and seasonal water. Very small plots and soil degradation can make it difficult to maintain food production, while landlessness or limited access to land constrains households’ options.

Estate land, smallholder farms and shared resources should be considered together in district land-use planning. Irrigation can reduce reliance on rainfall, but schemes require fair water allocation, maintenance and secure rights for the people whose land is included. The World Bank’s watershed assessment links land management to productivity and resilience.

Commercial agriculture, infrastructure and mining can create employment and public revenues, but they also compete with customary use and smallholder livelihoods. Estate boundaries and lease records should be reconciled with community claims before new allocations or changes of use. Negotiation is more meaningful when affected people receive information about the land involved, proposed terms, compensation and alternatives.

Legal restrictions on land transfers and nationality are complex and depend on the land category and applicable law. The 2022 Land Amendment Act prohibits the sale of vacant leasehold or freehold land; it should not be read as a general ban on every land transaction. Land Amendment Act.

Lake Malawi, Lake Chilwa, the Shire River and local wetlands support fishing, domestic water, irrigation and power generation. Access to water changes with seasons, infrastructure, pollution and land-use decisions. Watershed degradation can increase erosion and sedimentation, affecting both farm productivity and downstream facilities.

Fishing communities need secure access to landing sites, shorelines and markets as well as healthy fish stocks. Irrigation and hydropower should be planned with downstream users and environmental needs in mind. World Bank watershed report.

Woodlands and trees provide fuelwood, charcoal, timber, fodder and food. Rural households depend on both forests and trees on farms; tenure affects whether people can plant, protect, harvest and benefit from them. Forest reserves and protected areas also conserve watersheds and biodiversity, but restrictions can affect neighboring communities.

Community management is more durable when local people have clear responsibilities, accessible benefits and a meaningful role in decisions. Restoration should recognize existing use and avoid assuming that degraded land is vacant. Women’s access to fuelwood and forest products matters for both household welfare and the labor required to collect them.

Floods, cyclones and drought affect land, homes, crops and infrastructure. Cyclone Freddy in 2023 and the 2024 drought illustrate how successive shocks can erode households’ ability to recover. World Bank, 2024.

Secure access to land and water can support soil conservation, tree planting and adaptation, but tenure alone cannot provide irrigation, finance or disaster protection. Restoration and carbon projects should identify rights holders and shared uses, explain restrictions and benefits, and establish remedies. Payments for carbon do not automatically determine who owns the underlying land.

Malawi has deposits including uranium, graphite, rare earths and other minerals. Expansion of mining may create jobs and revenue but can affect farms, water supplies and nearby settlements. Land rights, environmental assessment, compensation, rehabilitation and community participation must be considered alongside mineral licensing.

The Mining and Minerals Regulatory Authority describes the Mines and Minerals Act No. 25 of 2023 as the basis of its mandate and the governing framework. MalawiLII’s listing, however, marks that Act as uncommenced. The two sources therefore do not present the same commencement status. The authority is operating, but the status of particular provisions should not be inferred solely from its creation.

Land policy reflects tensions between smallholder access, estate investment, customary authority and the need for public revenue. Historical allocations and unequal access to finance or official processes shape present bargaining power. Reform can improve security while still leaving households with too little productive land or limited access to markets and inputs.

The World Bank economic monitor highlights fiscal pressures, climate shocks and constraints on investment. Land policy is therefore connected to service delivery and financing: registries, dispute resolution and local oversight need sustained resources to work.

1. Support inclusive adjudication and registration that captures women’s, family and communal rights.
2. Resource district registries and customary land committees, with transparent decisions and accessible appeals.
3. Address smallholder land pressure and estate-related disputes through fair, evidence-based processes.
4. Protect water access, fisheries and forests while investing in climate-resilient agriculture and disaster recovery.
5. Publish mining and investment information and monitor compensation and environmental commitments.

Laws and regulations

• Customary Land Act, 2016, MalawiLII.
• Land Amendment Act, 2022 and commencement notice, MalawiLII.
• Customary Land Administration and Management Regulations, 2024, Malawi Gazette.
• Mines and Minerals Act, 2023, MalawiLII.

Government, project and research sources

• Customary estate certificates in Traditional Authority Juma, AGCOM 2, 2026.
• Customary land registration reform, Government of Malawi.
• Mining and Minerals Regulatory Authority.
• Integrated Land and Resource Governance: Malawi Final Report.
• Healthy Watersheds for a Strong Economy, World Bank.
• Food crisis response, World Bank, 2024.
• Regional Emergency Preparedness and Access to Inclusive Recovery project, World Bank.
• Malawi Economic Monitor, World Bank.
• Malawi country overview, World Bank.

Historical reference

• USAID Property Rights and Resource Governance Profile: Malawi, 2010.

October 2026: Updated the land-law framework, customary registration, women’s rights, resource governance, climate risks and mining.

High confidence in the cited land legislation, regulations and dated project reports. Moderate confidence in generalizations about customary practice and implementation, which vary by community. The cited mining sources differ on the commencement status of the 2023 Act.