TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF ACRONYM S .............................................. i
PREFA CE .................................................... iii
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ......................................... iv

1. INTRODUCTION ...........................................1
 1.1 Recent Changes in Malawi's Political and Economic Situation .......... 2
 1.2 Food Security in a Market Economy ........................... 2
 1.2.1 Food Security Terminology ........................... 4
 1.2.2 Elements of Food Security ............................ 5
 1.2.3 Structural Transformation for Food Security ................. 6
 1.2.4 The Role of Government in Food Security .................. 7

2. THE MARKET AND HOUSEHOLD FOOD SECURITY IN MALAWI ........ 8
 2.1 A Typology of Household Food Security in Malawi ................. 8
 2.1.1 Sm allholders ..................................... 8
 2.1.2 The Estate Sector ................................. 10
 2.1.3 TheUrbanPoor .................................. 11
 2.1.4 Current Trends ................................... 11
 2.2 Market Liberalization and Household Food Security ................ 12
 2.3 Sm allholder Profile ..................................... 13

3. NATIONAL FOOD SITUATION AND FOOD SECURITY ............... 17
 3.1 Assessing Food Insecurity: The Food Gap Calculation .............. 17
 3.1.1 Evaluation of the Food Gap Calculations .................. 18
 3.1.2 Relevance of Food Gap to Food Security .................. 19
 3.2 Assessing Food Security: A Market Based Approach ............... 20

4. PUBLIC INTERVENTION FOR FOOD SECURITY ................... 21
 4.1 Transitory and Chronic Food Insecurity Linkage .................. 21
 4.2 Public Programs to Deal with Transitory Food Insecurity ............ 22
 4.3 Price Stability and Food Security ............................ 23
 4.4 Transitory Food Insecurity and Safety Nets ..................... 25

5. ALTERNATIVES TO DEAL WITH CHRONIC FOOD INSECURITY ........ 27
 5.1 Direct or Indirect Market Intervention ......................... 27
 5.2 Encourage Market Development ............................ 28
 5.3 Market Development and Income Redistribution .................. 36

ANNEX A: LIST OF PERSONS CONTACTED .......................... A-1
ANNEX B: BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................... B-1
ANNEX C: HOUSEHOLD TYPOLOGY OF FOOD SECURITY IN MALAWI ..... C-1
ANNEX D: MODEL OF MAIZE PRICE INSTABILITY IN MALAWI ........... D-1
ANNEX E: TARGETING THE FOOD INSECURE IN MALAWI .............. E-1
ANNEX F: SAFETY NETS IN MALAWI .............................. F-1