LABOR USE IN SMALLHOLDER AGRICULTURE IN MALAWI: SIX VILLAGE CASE STUDIES

Abstract

Based on village surveys in diverse regions of Malawi, this paper explores the features of labor use in smallholder agricultural production in Malawi. Labor contracts found in the study villages were interrelated with the high risks in agricultural production and the problem of food deficit, and provided a means for risk sharing for the employers and food security for the laborers. In addition, the relations between the users and providers of casual labor were interwoven into the wealth differences among households. The low productivity of maize among the households whose members engaged in task-contracted casual labor was not caused by the low levels of family labor input. Analysis of labor use by female-headed households revealed that the female household heads, with their children, spent more days on farm work than did the members of male-headed households in order to cope with the lack of labor. The lower income of female heads of households forced them to rely more on agricultural wage income than their male counterparts.