investments within the agriculture sector for the foreseeable future is not in question in order to optimise resources under smallholder subsector. 57. However, despite its predominance today, the development objectives of the NAP will not be achieved if the policy is oriented towards smallholders and their food needs alone and sustaining smallholder farming in the long-term. A more heterogeneous perspective of the farming sector is adopted here, including support to medium-scale and large-scale commercial farmers. Public investments in the sector made under the NAP will be designed, insofar as possible, to be beneficial for all farmers – for smallholders operating primarily at a subsistence level, medium-scale farmers who are consistently able to produce marketable surpluses, and larger, commercial producers. 58. The development of the NAP has taken place against the background of incoherent subsectoral policies in the context of changing economic opportunities and challenges for Malawi’s agricultural sector. These incoherencies have resulted in inadequate investments to some sub-sectors, policy reversals, and weak regulatory frameworks, among other weaknesses and constraints. Hence, clear and comprehensive policy guidance for the agricultural sector will ensure continued and increasingly positive contributions to agricultural development and to the economy as a whole by farmers, processors, and traders. 59. The main operational rationale for this NAP is to improve coherence across the wide range of agricultural sub-sector policies that are in place and to better coordinate their implementation. In this respect, the NAP is critical for the following reasons: • Enhancing sustainable management of agricultural resources, increased agricultural exports and incomes, food security, and improved nutrition in the face of growing population pressure, urbanization, increasing global economic interdependence, and climate change that have serious implications for the economic and social wellbeing of farm households in Malawi. • Strengthening linkages between the agricultural sector and other sectors to ensure sustained and resilient socio-economic growth and development. 15