The first cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in Malawi in early April 2020, and the numbers went up subsequently, leading to Government-instituted COVID-19 lockdowns, which disrupted almost all aspects of normal life in the country.

 One of the most affected sectors by the lockdowns was agriculture, as contacts between extension workers and farmers were drastically reduced. This aggravated farmers’ problems, as even in pre-COVID times, the ratio of extension workers to farmers was already lower than it should have been.