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

Table 5.12 – Farm labor use and allocation by type of activity
Activities
Family Labor (in person days and
percent)
Male Female Child
Total
Family
Labor
(person -
days and
percentage)
Total
Hired
Labor
(person -
days and
percentage)
Total
Labor Use
(person –
days)
Land preparation 16 (34) 21 (33) 11 (30) 43 (34) 2.7 (38) 46
Planting 4 (10) 6 (10) 3 (12) 12 (10) 0.3 (4) 12
Weeding 13 (29) 19 (29) 9 (26) 37 (29) 2.2 (31) 39
Fertilizer application 1 (2) 1 (1) 1 (2) 2 (1) 0.1 (1) 2
Topping/desuckering 1 (1) 1 (1) 1 (2) 2 (1) 0.4 (6) 2
Harvesting 9 (19) 12 (19) 6 (20) 23 (19) 1.1(15) 24
Threshing/ cleaning 2 (5) 4 (6) 2 (7) 7 (5) 0.3 (4) 7
Total in person days 46 (100) 63 (100) 16 (100) 125 (100) 7.1 (100) 132
Note: Figures in parentheses are column percentages.
Source: IFPRI/APRU Malawi Smallholder Farmer Survey, 1998.
Table 5.13 – Family labor use by type of crop
Crop Total Family labor
(in person days)
Males share of total
family labor
Female share of
total family labor
Child share of
total family labor
Maize 61 32 50 18
Sweet potato 27 35 46 19
Cassava 39 32 51 17
Rice 56 30 50 21
Beans/Pulses 31 29 55 16
Sorghum 29 33 57 10
Groundnuts 36 31 49 20
Vegetables 38 44 36 20
Tobacco 75 40 41 19
Cotton 69 42 47 11
Soybeans 32 36 46 18
Source: IFPRI/APRU Malawi Smallholder Farmer Survey, 1998.
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