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

Over three-quarter of the EPAs reported that agricultural production had increased since 1995
because of more crops being grown. And about two-third of the EPAs indicated that the
marketed share of agricultural production had also increased since 1995, mainly because in the
majority of the EPAs (73 percent) more farmers were selling crops in 1998 than in 1995.
5.2.4 Road Infrastructure
Rural road infrastructure in Malawi is still very poorly developed. The average EPA in Malawi
has a limited amount of paved roads (about 32 kms). The length of dirt roads (113 kms) is three
times as long as paved roads and twice as long as gravel roads (56 kms). The Central region is the
most developed in terms of road infrastructure; it has the longest road network for all three road
types (paved, gravel, and dirt) (see Table 5.72). The Northern and Southern regions have an
almost equal extent of roads. During the rainy season (December-March), most dirt roads and
some gravel roads become impassable. For example, for the majority of EPAs (about threequarter),
the dirt roads became impassable during the months of January, February, and parts of
December and March. And for about a quarter of the EPAs, gravel roads also became impassable
during those months.
Extension officers were asked about changes in road infrastructure in their EPA since 1995.
About 68 percent noted that there has been no change in the length of roads since then, 18 percent
said that there were new roads, and 13 percent indicated that some roads had become impassable
(see Table 5.73). The percentage of EPAs that noted that there were new roads was higher in the
Southern and Northern regions (25 percent compared to 11 percent in the Center). This may be an
indication that the government is investing more in the regions where road infrastructure is still
very poor. On the other hand, the quality of the roads had worsened for about 40 percent of the
EPAs but had improved for another 38 percent; only 22 percent noted no change in the quality of
the roads. More than half the EPAs in the South noted a worsening in road quality.
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