Impact Of Agricultural Market Reforms On Smallholder Farmers In ...

Overall expenditure patterns
According to the results of the IFPRI-APRU Small Farmer Survey, the average annual
value of consumption expenditure among agricultural households in Malawi is 14 thousand MK
per household or 3.1 thousand MK per capita. Food expenditures absorb about two-thirds of total
expenditures (67 percent); food purchases account for a little over one third (37 percent) and
home produced food a little less than one third (30 percent). Non-food expenditure (including the
rental equivalent of housing) contributes another third of expenditure (see Table 5.40).
The level of expenditure varies from one region to another. As expected, per capita expenditures
are higher in the North (3.9 thousand MK) than in the Center (3.0 thousand MK) and the South
(2.9 thousand MK). The share of expenditure allocated to food is about two-thirds in all three
regions (61 percent in the North compared to 69 percent in the Center and 67 percent in the
South). The contribution of home production to total expenditure is also approximately the same
in the three regions (31 percent in the North, 30 in the Center, and 28 in the South).
Female-headed households are a little disadvantaged relative to male-headed households. The
total expenditure of female-headed households is 31 percent below that of male-headed
household (see Table 5.41). Because male-headed households have larger families, however, per
capita expenditure of female-headed households are only 12 percent below that of male-headed
households. Female-headed households spend a larger share of their budget on food (70 percent
compared to 66 percent). They also rely a little more on home production than male-headed
households (32 percent compared to 30 percent). The share of non-food purchases is, on the
other hand, lower for female-headed households than for male-headed households (17 percent
compared to 25 percent).
Not surprisingly, the composition of expenditure changes as total expenditure rises (see Table
5.42). The poorest 20 percent of farm households in Malawi have an average per capita
expenditure of just 1.08 thousand MK. The richest 20 percent of the farm households have an
average per capita expenditure of 6.5 thousand MK. The food share in total expenditures does not
seem to vary much between the first four expenditure groups (about 70 percent in all cases). The
share diminishes only for the wealthiest 20 percent of the households (61 percent). This structure
258