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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:A descriptive analysis of the food crisis in Malawi
Author:Stambuli, KalongaISNI
Year:2002
Periodical:The Society of Malawi Journal
Volume:55
Issue:2
Pages:1-30
Language:English
Geographic term:Malawi
Subjects:agricultural policy
food shortage
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/29779097
Abstract:This article is a longitudinal study of Malawi's agricultural policies since the 1960s in an attempt to isolate short-term from long-term causality in respect of the food shortages that seem to have become perennial in nature. It examines the impact of the dichotomy between estates and smallholder, the distribution of land, labour policies and government strategies towards farm technology development, as well as agricultural marketing policies. It analyses trends in fertilizer uptake, input prices, producer prices, the role of credit in relaunching smallholder agricultural activity, and the role of free farm inputs aimed at kick-starting farm activities of vulnerable communities. It also addresses the problem of climatic variability, especially the relative sensitivity of maize when compared to sorghum, millet, cassava and sweet potato. It finds that since the 1970s land policies have favoured estate-based export production at the expense of household food production. Initially, low population levels concealed the effects, but further population growth escalated food demands above the carrying capacity of diminishing household land. Efforts to reclaim land for food and shelter have resulted in deforestation. Cultivation of marginal lands resulting in high rates of soil erosion and intensive use of good land have also resulted in generally poor quality of land in Malawi. The fact that estates developed from previously customary land, but gains from estate exports were not redeployed towards improving household farm technologies, further underwrites the inequities underlying the current food problem. Bibliogr., notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract]
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