Claire I have been reading a lot of your post here and I have to applaude you for you seem to be doing something that most of us fail to do.  We tend to talk but not act on it.

You are right to say that substistence farming has not helped malawians.  But I feel we have to look and see why it has not worked, where we went wrong and where we can improve.  I still see substistence farming as the one of the best way to help Malawi in eliminating poverty

Malawi relies mainly on rainfall.  But the weather patterns have changed.  Malawians have to adapt to the climate of today.  Malawi has got rivers and lakes.  Irrigation system is the best way to combat this problem of dependance on rain.  The government can invest money in building dams.  This will be expensive but it will be money well spent.

Because of deforestation the soil has become unfertile.  Planting appropriate trees will help protect the soil.  The roots of the trees allow rain to filter into the earth.  I remember during the dictators days we had 21st of December as tree planting day, we had to plant trees.  Of course then it was a must.  The Charity organisations and government have to educate the farmers and locals on how the soil is effected when they cut down trees and dont plant new ones.

Labour is also a big problem.  The tools that farmers in Malawi use eg hoes they take up alot of energy and time.  If farmers can get a loan and buy ox(cow,cattle) or other animals for them to use as ox-plough or animal plough this will help alot.

Using scientific technology.  Biotechnology can double the production of food.  It is more precise and farming becomes less time consuming.  It helps farmers produce more on less land.  As much as I dont like genetically modified foods, the fact is malawian population is on the increase and they will need more agricultural land to feed its growing urban population.

It will all depend on where the government invest donor money.  The investment should be long term not short term investments.  If priorities of the government are to save lives and to improve malawians standard of living then they will invest a lot in education and agriculture.