1. Averting Famine For years the small nation of Malawi in southern Africa remained on the verge of famine with high rates of acute child hunger,I begging for emergency food aid from richer countries. But now the tables have turned, and Malawi is growing enough food to feed it: people and sell much of the surplus to other nations. Rates of child hunger have dropped dramatically. Why the change? With the soil in Malawi overfarmed and depleted, it was impossible for the country to feed itself. The situation improved only when Malawi began to ignore the advice of the World Bank and n'ch countries, which advised Malawi to get rid of fertilizer subsidies and to rely on the workings of free markets. After the disastrous harvest of 2005, Malawi reversed the trend and subsidized farmers' use of fertilizerjust as many Western countries do for their own farmers. Malawi's success has prompted reappraisats of the capacity of agriculture to eliminate poverty and of a government's ability to spur selfsufciency and growth through investments in agricultural production and know-how.*