Malawi

Question 1

Independence

Answer 1

1964

Question 2

Country attributes:

Answer 2

One of the poorest countries in the world (2004 - GDP per capita $160)
Densely populated
Landlocked - poor/expensive transport links
Chronically food insecure

Question 3

What was the Starter Pack initiative and when was it launched?

Answer 3

1998 - Govt free handout of small pack of improved maize seed, legumes & fertiliser to small holder households - aim to improve food security/self-sufficiency
Against free market model
Helped national & household food accessibility & availability

Question 4

Links between food security & poverty in Malawi:

Answer 4

85% work in agri 
Small amount of land available
Rain reliant agri
High cost of fertiliser - unaffordable
Extreme poverty 
HIV/AIDS 
Pop pressure on land

Question 5

When was there a food crisis?

Answer 5

2001 - 2003 –> 6x food price increase –> vulnerability & insecurity

Question 6

1964 - 70s

Answer 6

Economic growth - exports of tea, coffee & tobacco

Self-sufficiency and food security = agenda

Question 7

1980s

Answer 7

WB & IMF intervention –> liberalise agriculture –> food crisis & mass maize imports

Question 8

1990s

Answer 8

Encouraged to diversify production - cash crops

Donors forced fertiliser subsidies to be dropped –> agrarian crisis

Question 9

Shift from Starter pack to Targeted Input Programme

Answer 9

Investments dropped due to IMF pressure

Scaled down to certain communities –> 2002 food crisis

Question 10

Harrigan (2008)

Answer 10

“The Malawian Experience” shows need to diversify - not get locked into 1 programme - external processes change = rise in costs/have to be realistic
Links between povt & foot insecurity

Question 11

1967-77 Intra-rural migration

Answer 11

mid 60s - largest inflow into Southern region
Central - less favoured, some tobacco
North = ‘dead north’
Reflected colonial outcomes

Question 12

1977-87 intra-rural migration

Answer 12

More COMPLEX - Mozambique refugees 1977
Internal econ patterns exerting strong influence on migration patterns - central = net in-migration
end = in-migration & establishment of tobacco docks

Question 13

1987-98

Answer 13

Refugee –> home –> depression in growth
S region –> out migration –> N & C regions
High aids death rates

Question 14

Social & economic impacts of migration

Answer 14

most acute in S region 
family members --> strangers
language/culture barriers between S/N
Social capital = key determinant
Extreme cash povt
Sisters = strangers
Theft increase & growing insecurity over 20 years

Question 15

Role of tobacco in migration flows

Answer 15

Liberalisation –> demand for labour –> collected in lorry from overpopulated S –> labour on estates
Shows accessibility

Question 16

In 1998, how many people per km?

Answer 16

105

Question 17

Potts (2006)

Answer 17

intra-rural migration 
adaptation to pressure
shift from S --> N region 
patterns of pop density & land availability & poverty 
tobacco estate D. = important

Question 18

Key themes

Answer 18

Rural development/economy - labour system - landlocked - migration - food security - poverty

Question 19

Vail (1982)

Answer 19

Agri econ = inherited econ
3 sectors: Plantation, Peasant, Subsistence village
Argues - independence broke colonial rigidity but didn’t alter its essence

Question 20

During colonial period there were …

Answer 20

High tax systems –> people migrated to seek work elsewhere –> bad for white settle plantation owners –> Labour migrancy became politicised

Question 21

What happened in 1903?

Answer 21

1903 - collapse of coffee - people sent to work in SA mines
cash crops - cotton - Britain
Refugees from Mozam - forced to work on plantations

Question 22

What happened after independence?

Answer 22

BANDA - nationalisation, new railway and road –> independent link to African coast