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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:A brief review of the history of Malawian smallholder agriculture over the past fifty years
Author:Carr, StephenISNI
Year:2004
Periodical:The Society of Malawi Journal
Volume:57
Issue:2
Pages:12-20
Language:English
Geographic term:Malawi
Subjects:food crops
agricultural history
small farms
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/29779152
Abstract:One reason for reviewing the history of a particular sector of an economy is to assess whether the assumptions being made by current policymakers are actually in line with historical fact. With this in mind, the author first examines four assumptions concerning agriculture in Malawi: the reason why Malawian smallholder agriculture is dominated by maize is because the Banda regime forced people to leave their traditional crops and plant maize; now that Banda has gone every effort should be made to encourage farmers to revert to their indigenous crops which are more suited to Malawi and are more nutritious than maize; the Banda regime made no effort to diversify smallholder agriculture and this should now be a priority; Malawian farmers are conservative both with regard to their farming practices and their eating habits. The author shows that these assumptions are all undermined by historical facts. Next he shows how positive developments in Malawian agriculture from the late 1960s onward were hit by factors outside Malawi's control in the 1990s. Finally he discusses the present situation with respect to export crops, food production, and the decline of soil fertility, and concludes with suggestions for increasing the availability of food at the household level in Malawi. [ASC Leiden abstract]
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