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

vegetables and legumes, dairy products, sweets, and food away from home, each of which is
consumed by less than one-third of farm households (see Table 5.44).
Food expenditure by source. As mentioned above, food expenditure includes both cash
purchases and home production (the value of food grown by the household for its own use). The
proportion of food expenditure that is produced at home varies widely across commodities.
Home production represents over two-thirds of the household supply of maize, potatoes,
groundnuts, and eggs. Home production of other food items such as cassava, rice, beans, and
sorghum represents between 50 and 65 percent of total household supply. About one-third of the
chicken and other meat (mainly goat) and less than 10 percent of onions and tomatoes are home
produced. All the remaining food items are purchased. Overall, home production accounts for
slightly less than half (44 percent) of the value of food consumption, while a little over a half (56
percent) is purchased (see Table 5.45).
Almost all households produce some of their own food and purchase some food, but the
percentages vary depending on the item. In the case of maize, 96 percent produce for their own
consumption and 73 percent purchase at least some maize over the course of the year. This
implies that a significant number of household (about 70 percent) supplement their own
production with maize purchases. Fifty percent and 70 percent of the households produce eggs
and grow chicken for their own use, respectively. And, about 25 to 50 percent of households
produce potatoes, cassava, beans/pulses, and groundnuts for their own use. On the other hand, a
large number of commodities are purchased by over 40 percent of the farm household: potatoes,
cassava, rice, beans/pulses, leafy vegetables, tomatoes, onions, beef, other meat, fish, sugar,
cooking oil, and coffee/tea. Except for maize, groundnuts, chicken and eggs, the proportion of
households buying each food is generally greater than the proportion producing it for their own
consumption. This suggests that the image of the farmer who produces food for his family and
sells some of the harvest to cover school fees and other non-food necessities is not particularly
relevant for Malawi. The farm household economy is more complex, with the production of a
small number of food items for own use and reliance on the market for a large number of other
foods (see Table 5.46).
Food expenditure by region. The composition of food expenditure does not vary
significantly across regions, except that in the Northern region, diets seem to be more diversified.
For the majority of the food items, except for a few items such as maize, tomatoes, vegetables,
260