2. THE MARKET AND HOUSEHOLD FOOD SECURITY IN MALAWI


2.1 A Typology of Household Food Security in Malawi

 Chronic food insecurity in Malawi is primarily a problem of poverty. Households are food
 insecure because they do not have access to enough food to meet their requirements. In Malawi,
 over 85 percent of the population lives in the rural sector and depends for their income on
 agriculture, either directly, through production, or indirectly, through providing labor, goods or
Services to farmers. The link between access to food and agricultural production is very strong A
because agricultural reduction is th hn hnld' in

 Thus, to assess household food security, the starting point is me assessment of household
 income and resources. Households are vulnerable to food insecurity primarily because their
 income sources are inadequate (chronic food inserrity) and/or because their coim are
 v rable to exogenous shocks (transitory food insecurity). In Malawi, income distribution is
 very unequal, largely because of policies in effect during the past thirty years. Unequal income
 distribution, combined with low level of average income, or GDP per capital, means that many
 households in Malawi are food insecure.

 Nutrition indicators are often used in food security assessments. These have to be
 interpreted with caution. Nutritional status is an outcome of the interaction of household food
 security, intra-household food distribution, maternal and child care practices and health status.
 Child care practices and health status are linked to household income, but they are also strongly
 influenced by public or collective provision of health and education services. The high incidence
 of malnutrition suggests the depth of the problem, but not all the malnutrition is directly food -
 related. While acknowledging the importance of child care and health factors, this report will
 focus on factors affecting household food security.

 Broadly speaking, the food insecure in Malawi can be divided into three categories:
 smallholders, estate workers / tenants and the urhan pnnr There has been a significant amount
 of work undertaken on the characteristics of food insecure rural farmers, but there has been much
 less analysis of the other two categories (Petef1992,1994,1995, UNDP 1993, World Bank 1995, ) (Q
 SCF 1996). Almost all the quantitative analysis of food insecure households is based on data
 collected before 1993. This analysis reflects outcomes of the previous heavily regulated economic
 system. Since the early 1990s, the liberalization process has changed the opportunities available
 to all households, including the food insecure, particularly in the rural areas. Little of this process
 is, as yet, documented, and it will take time before it can result in major changes in the numbers
 of food insecure. However, the liberalization changes should be kept in mind when considering
 the implications of the following assessment.

 2.1.1 Smallholders