3700 ultra-poor households in Dedza and Mangochi districts have received a total of K818,281,455 as capital injection to their business ventures. The sum was disbursed by Financial Access for Rural Markets, Smallholders and Enterprises (Farmse) to strengthen the households to be financially independent, therefore ceasing cash transfers towards the communities that have received.

By January last year, statistics indicated that Malawi’s ultra-poverty rate stood at 20.1% in 2016 down from 24.5 percent in 2011. On the other hand, from 50.4% in 2010, poverty registered an increase to 51.5% in 2017, says a 2019 African Economic Outlook Report. The study, carried out by the African Development Bank (AfDB) states that poverty in rural areas registers 56.6%, citing food security as the major cause for the record.

Malawi is home to more than 18 million people. More than half of the population live below the poverty line and 25 per cent live in extreme poverty. The COVID-19 pandemic brings an additional threat to vulnerable families whose livelihoods have been affected due to the preventive measures put in place by the government to stop the spread of the disease.