Casual Wage Labour, Food Security, and Sustainable Rural Livelihoods in Malawi

Hiroko Gono (), Tsutomu Takane and Dickson Mazibuko
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Hiroko Gono: Faculty of International Agriculture and Food Studies, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Tokyo 156-8502, Japan
Tsutomu Takane: Faculty of International Agriculture and Food Studies, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Tokyo 156-8502, Japan
Dickson Mazibuko: School of Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Malawi, Zomba P.O. Box 280, Malawi

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 7, 1-25

Abstract: Casual wage labour (known as ganyu in Malawi) is a widely adopted strategy to cope with insufficient income and food production in rural households. Although previous studies have discussed the magnitude of the contribution of ganyu to rural livelihoods, the actual conditions of individual rural households have not been studied in detail. The current research conducted a detailed village-level case study to analyse the relationship between ganyu and rural livelihoods in Malawi. The characteristics of three categories of households were examined: those that engaged in ganyu , those that employed ganyu , and those that engaged in and employed ganyu . The study found that: (1) income from ganyu and its contribution to household food security differed considerably based on age, gender, household circumstances, and local conditions; (2) households that employed ganyu were not necessarily wealthy or achieved self-sufficiency in maize production; and (3) contradictory behaviour of a household to engage in and employ ganyu was a result of the context-specific needs of that household. Rather than viewing ganyu as poorly paid agricultural wage labour, the study propose acknowledging that each household has its own rationale for engaging in or employing ganyu. Such an understanding from a household-level perspective would better inform poverty and food security policies.

Keywords: casual wage labour; food security; sustainable rural livelihood; food and cash shortages; ganyu; Malawi (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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