Commercialisation of Food Crops in Rural Malawi: Insights from the Household Survey

Since 1981, through structural adjustment programme, the agricultural sector has undergone several reforms which were expected to raise the incomes of smallholder farmers and hence increase their entitlement to food through the market. Data from the national household survey, however, show that most of smallholder farming remains subsistence. Only 10 percent of households sold their maize while 83 percent produced purely for own consumption. The study also reveals that the quantities of maize produced fell far short of the minimum requirement for a staple, implying that most households were net food buyers in 1997/98. The inequality in the distribution of land is one of the binding constraints for smallholder farmers in achieving food security through cultivation of either food crops or cash crops. This has implications for the adoption of technologies and the viability of promoting cash crops as a vehicle for achieving food security.