Labour use in smallholder agriculture in Malawi: six village case studies

Based on village surveys in diverse regions of Malawi, this study explores the features of labour use in smallholder agricultural production. The study also examines some features of task-contracted casual labour and highlights the fact that the relations between user and provider of casual labour were interwoven into the wealth differences among the households. This paper specifically examines the labour use and labor contracts observed in smallholder agricultural production in Malawi. <br /><br />The findings show that labour use patterns found in the study villages were interrelated with the high risk in agricultural production and the problem of food deficit, and provided a means for risk-sharing for the employers and food security for the laborers. In addition, the relationship between the users and providers of casual labour were connected to the wealth differences between households. The findings further indicate that the low productivity of maize among the households whose members engaged in task-contracted casual labour was not caused by the low levels of family labour input. <br /><br />Despite the diverse socio-economic conditions of the six study villages, the study found some important similarities in labour use in agriculture. The study showed that the characteristics of labour contracts were interrelated with the high risk of agricultural production and the probability of food deficit during the less productive season. Analysis of labor use by female-headed households has revealed that the female household heads and their children spent more days on farm work than did the members of male-headed households in order to cope with the disadvantage in family labour, and that the low income of female-headed households forced them to rely more on agricultural wage income than their male-headed counterparts.