Impact Of Agricultural Market Reforms On Smallholder Farmers In ...
Impact Of Agricultural Market Reforms On Smallholder Farmers In ... Impact Of Agricultural Market Reforms On Smallholder Farmers In ...
5.1.4 Time allocation In Malawi, as in many other societies, some work activities are shared equally by men and women, while other activities are more gender specific. As Table 5.11 shows, men spend considerable more time in non-farm employment while women are busier with household work, collecting firewood and water. Both spend an approximately equal amount of time on agricultural production. However, men spend a little more time on cash crop and other farm production and twice as much time buying and selling crops. When asked on which activity the household member is spending more time than before 1995, the majority of both the main male and female in the household mentioned food crop production, cash crop production, or both; 18 percent of the males spend more time on non-farm production, while 17 percent of the females spend more time on household work. 5.1.5 Use of agricultural inputs and assets In this section, we report the results of the survey regarding the use of inputs such as labor, seeds, fertilizers, and credit. Each of these inputs as well as their costs and source of purchases are discussed in turn below. Labor Smallholder farmers in Malawi rely mainly on family labor for their crop production activities. The use of hired labor is more limited as only about one-third of the households hire labor to help in their crop production activities. The average daily wage rate paid for hired labor in 1998 was MK 42 per person-day, or the equivalent of about $1 a day. Most hired workers are paid in cash; about 30 percent are paid either in kind or through labor exchange, or both. Table 5.12 shows the amount of family labor (male, female, and child) used for each crop production activity as well as hired and total labor used (in terms of total and percent of persondays per year). In calculating total family labor person-days, child labor-days are equivalent to half an adult person-day. The figures indicate that women spend approximately 17 more persondays per year than their male counterparts on crop production activities. The most time 239
consuming family labor activities for all types of family labor are land preparation (one-third of total family labor), weeding (29 percent) and harvesting (19 percent). Table 5.13 disaggregates total family labor by crop. The most labor-intensive crops are tobacco, followed by cotton, maize, and rice. In general, although females work more days in total, as a proportion of their own total labor days, males tend to spend more time on cash crops (such as tobacco and cotton), while females devote more time to food crops such as maize, cassava, beans, sorghum, etc. Fertilizer use An important question that has emerged following the reforms relates to the impact of input market liberalization on the use of fertilizer by smallholder farmers. Because all fertilizers in Malawi are imported, fertilizer prices are highly sensitive to devaluation. As mentioned in Chapter 3, the Malawian Kwacha (MK) was devalued several times since 1994, increasing from about 9 MK/US$ to the dollar in 1994 to 45 MK/US$ in 1999. Similarly, the average price of a 50 Kg bag of NPK or urea increased from about 100 MK per 1994-95 to about 800 to 900 MK in 1998-99. Since the consumer price index rose by a factor of 3.5 over this period, the real price of fertilizer more than doubled. The impact of the higher fertilizer price is exacerbated by the fact that most fertilizer is used on maize, whose relative price (as a non-tradable) falls with devaluation. The fertilizer/maize price ratio has, on average, increased since 1994 and remains above the level of the 1980s. As a result, total fertilizer use has declined from its peak in 1992-93 at 74 thousand mt of nutrients to less than 50 thousand mt in 1994 and 1995. Fertilizer use picked up again in 1996, 1997 and 1998, partially due to the free input programs. Total fertilizer use, however, is still lower than in the early 1990s. Approximately 23 percent of the cropped area in Malawi is fertilized. The use of fertilizer varies with the type of crop planted. For example, 61 percent of the tobacco area is fertilized, compared to 27 percent for maize and 24 percent for vegetables. Given the large area devoted to maize, however, 63 percent of the fertilizer used is applied to maize. Cassava and sweet potatoes are generally not fertilized. The IFPRI/APRU Smallholder Farmer survey results indicate that manure is used by 23 percent of the farmers (mainly from their own animals) while about 35 percent of the farmers use fertilizers. For farmers that did not use any fertilizer, about 44 percent 240
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5.1.4 Time allocation<br />
<strong>In</strong> Malawi, as in many other societies, some work activities are shared equally by men<br />
and women, while other activities are more gender specific. As Table 5.11 shows, men spend<br />
considerable more time in non-farm employment while women are busier with household work,<br />
collecting firewood and water. Both spend an approximately equal amount of time on<br />
agricultural production. However, men spend a little more time on cash crop and other farm<br />
production and twice as much time buying and selling crops. When asked on which activity the<br />
household member is spending more time than before 1995, the majority of both the main male<br />
and female in the household mentioned food crop production, cash crop production, or both; 18<br />
percent of the males spend more time on non-farm production, while 17 percent of the females<br />
spend more time on household work.<br />
5.1.5 Use of agricultural inputs and assets<br />
<strong>In</strong> this section, we report the results of the survey regarding the use of inputs such as<br />
labor, seeds, fertilizers, and credit. Each of these inputs as well as their costs and source of<br />
purchases are discussed in turn below.<br />
Labor<br />
<strong>Smallholder</strong> farmers in Malawi rely mainly on family labor for their crop production<br />
activities. The use of hired labor is more limited as only about one-third of the households hire<br />
labor to help in their crop production activities. The average daily wage rate paid for hired labor<br />
in 1998 was MK 42 per person-day, or the equivalent of about $1 a day. Most hired workers are<br />
paid in cash; about 30 percent are paid either in kind or through labor exchange, or both.<br />
Table 5.12 shows the amount of family labor (male, female, and child) used for each crop<br />
production activity as well as hired and total labor used (in terms of total and percent of persondays<br />
per year). <strong>In</strong> calculating total family labor person-days, child labor-days are equivalent to<br />
half an adult person-day. The figures indicate that women spend approximately 17 more persondays<br />
per year than their male counterparts on crop production activities. The most time<br />
239
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