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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Adapting to Adjustment: Smallholder Livelihood Strategies in Southern Malawi
Authors:Orr, AlastairISNI
Mwale, BlessingsISNI
Year:2001
Periodical:World Development
Volume:29
Issue:8
Period:August
Pages:1325-1343
Language:English
Geographic term:Malawi
Subjects:economic policy
small farms
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Economics and Trade
Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment
Development and Technology
External link:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0305-750X(01)00042-0
Abstract:In 1981 the government of Malawi started to implement structural adjustement programmes (SAP). These programmes have focused on the smallholder subsector, which employs the majority of the population. Evidence from rapid rural appraisal (RRA) surveys suggests that adjustment has generally harmed poorer households and made them poorer. This paper analyses changes in livelihood strategies for 50 case-study households in southern Malawi in response to structural adjustment. It shows that most households regarded themselves as better off than before, and that improvements in economic status were mainly attributable to market liberalization. Furthermore, the benefits of market liberalization were not confined to conventional cash crops such as burley tobacco, but encompassed a range of food crops that were widely grown by poorer households. Roughly one-quarter of households reported to be worse off than before, a situation partly attributable to market liberalization, but also to the adverse consequences of widowhood or divorce for female-headed households. These findings suggest that overreliance on RRA methods may have produced a misleading picture of the impact of structural adjustment on smallholder livelihoods. The paper is based on field research conducted in 1999-2000 in the Blantyre Shire Highlands in Malawi. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum.
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