Mixed farming systems: a pathway to improved food security and incomes of smallholder farmers in Malawi

Manda, J.; Ledermann, S.; Chimonyo, V.G.P.; Homann, S.; Muthoni, F.K.; Tufa, A.H.; Choptiany, J.

Mixed farming systems: a pathway to improved food security and incomes of smallholder farmers in Malawi

Autores

Descripción

This study investigates the impact of mixed crop-livestock (C-L) production systems on food security and welfare among smallholder farmers in Malawi. Using data from 1,269 households across six districts, we examined the impact of different combinations of crops and livestock and farm production diversity, on food consumption scores (FCS), food expenditure, and total household expenditure using the extended and control function regression models. The results indicate that the adoption of mixed C-L farming was influenced by household head age, household size, asset ownership, landholding, rainfall, temperatures, and market distance. Our results indicate substantial gains from C-L farming compared to crop only systems. The adoption of the combination of crops and poultry increased the FCS by 23%, food expenditure by 45%, and total expenditure by 44% compared to crop-only systems. Combining crops, ruminants, and pigs yielded even better outcomes, with an FCS of 28%, a food expenditure of 44%, and a total expenditure of 65%. The results suggest that the more comprehensive combination of crops, poultry, ruminants, and pigs resulted in the highest benefits, increasing the FCS by 44%, food expenditure by 99%, and total expenditure by 102%. Moreover, household with more livestock species were less vulnerable to extreme temperatures and rainfall variability. These findings highlight the importance of C-L farming. Results further showed that farm production diversity led to higher diet diversity, food expenditure, and total expenditure. Therefore, there is need to provide farmers with information on integrated crop-livestock systems, enable accesss to acequate inputs and services, reduce transaction costs and improve functioning of output markets.