by Leah Mwambene and Obdiah Mawondza Abstract Child marriages occur when one of the parties is below the age of eighteen. In Malawi, research has shown that most child marriages are a result of cultural practices. To comply with various international and regional instruments, Malawi has enacted different pieces of legislation that can be useful […]
Read more "Children’s Rights Standards and Child Marriage in Malawi"
by Bruce Campbell and Sheona Shackleton Abstract Throughout Southern Africa there has been a move to decentralize natural resource management (NRM). Decentralization has taken many forms, resulting in different organizational structures for NRM. Fourteen case studies from eight countries can be classed into four types, depending on the key organizations for NRM: (1) district-level organizations; […]
by Osei Hwedi Introduction African countries inherited economies that are backward, skewed and underdeveloped as a result of Western colonial rule. Since independence, African states have embarked on the transformation of inherited economic structures with varying degrees of success. The debate about the role of the state in development in Africa reached its peak in […]
by Christina H. Gladwin, Alan Randall, Andrew Schmitz, and G. Edward Schuh Traditionally, fertilizer has been treated by economists as a private, not public, good [1]. Soil scientist Pedro Sanchez and researchers associated with the International Center for Research on Agroforestry (ICRAF), however, claim that ICRAF’s agroforestry innovations should be adopted by African farmers as an inexpensive […]
Read more "Is Fertilizer a Public or Private Good in Africa? An Opinion Piece"
by Paul H. Thangata, Peter .E. Hildebrand, and Christina H. Gladwin Abstract Low resource farmers make decisions about adopting new technologies as part of the overall strategy for ensuring subsistence and cash income for their food security needs. This paper reports on a study conducted in Kasungu, Malawi, southern Africa, to evaluate the potential for small-scale […]
Read more "Modeling AgroForestry Adoption and Household Decision Making in Malawi"
by Christina H. Gladwin, Jennifer S. Peterson, and Robert Uttaro Abstract Most observers agree that the verdict is still out for agroforestry innovations known as improved fallows, which may take a decade for farmers to test properly. First farmers plant several small plots of different tree species, cut them after two years and plant a cash […]
by Robert A. Gilbert, Webster D. Sakala, and Todd D. Benson Abstract The majority of farmers in sub-Saharan Africa are female, yet women often have limited access to extension information and agricultural inputs. Designing improved agricultural research and extension services for women in Africa is a challenging task since female farmers defy simple characterizations, and […]
Read more "Gender Analysis of a Nationwide Cropping System Trial Survey in Malawi"
by Amy E. Gough, Christina H. Gladwin, and Peter E. Hildebrand Abstract The majority of Malawi’s smallholders use low purchased-input technologies and as a result, produce low yields; 40 to 60 percent of rural households face chronic food insecurity for two to five months every year. These households are therefore in need of a program to […]
Read more "Vouchers versus Grants of Inputs: Evidence from Malawi’s Starter Pack Program"
by Andrea S. Anderson Abstract Diversifying household activiies is essential to household food security in Southern Malawi. Farms are extremely small; many farms are less than half a hectare. With these small landholdings, food security cannot be achieved by subsistence farming alone. Cash crops and off-farm income are key to these livelihood systems. This paper […]
by Robert P. Uttaro Abstract This paper examines two decisions farmers in southern Malawi make every planting season: whether or not to acquire increasingly expensive chemical fertilizers and whether or not to buy and plant equally expensive hybrid maize seed. Both choices are interrelated. Maize is the staple food crop in Malawi and the key […]