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

wheat, and fruits and nuts, a higher percentage of households in the North consume the product
compared to households in the Center or South (see Table 5.47). Maize occupies a higher share
of the total food budget of households in the Central and Southern region (around one-third in the
Center and South compared to 20 percent in the North) (see Table 5.48). In the North, following
maize, the most important items in terms of their share of the total food budget are rice (11
percent), fish and eggs (8 percent each), and potatoes and tomatoes (6 percent each). In the
Center, eggs (8 percent), fish (7 percent), and groundnuts (6 percent) are the other important food
items after maize. In the South, the other important food items are fish (10 percent), leafy
vegetables (7 percent), and rice, beans/pulses, and eggs (5 percent each).
Food expenditure by gender of the household head. Table 5.49 shows that for most
food commodities (except beans/pulses, groundnuts, sorghum, other legumes and leafy
vegetables), a lower percentage of female-headed households consume the commodity compared
to male-headed households. This may indicate that female-headed households are worse off in
terms of the diversification of their diet. Lower levels of total income limit the food purchasing
power of female-headed households; they have to rely more on home produced food which is not
as diverse as what they can find in the market.
Food expenditure by expenditure category. As per capita expenditure rises, the
number of food items consumed by the household also increases, implying a more diversified diet
for richer households. As expected, this difference is more significant for more expensive food
items such as rice, onions, fruits and nuts, beef, chicken, other meat, eggs, dairy products,
cooking oil, sugar, sweets, soft drinks, and food away from home (see Table 5.50). In terms of the
share in the total food budget, only for maize and leafy vegetables, the share of the food budget
declines with per capita expenditures (see Table 5.51). For the poorest expenditure group, maize
constitutes 47 percent of the total food budget, while for the richest expenditure group it accounts
for 26 percent. The other important food items for the wealthier farmers are fish and eggs.
Non-food expenditure
The average value of non-food expenditures among farm households in Malawi is MK
3.3 thousand per household or MK 697 per capita. Household goods, and “leisure and other” are
the two largest categories, accounting respectively for 32 and 20 percent of non-food spending.
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