Changes in food and nutrition security in Malawi: Analysis of recent survey evidence

Verduzco-Gallo, à ñigo, Olivier Ecker and Karl Pauw

No 6, MaSSP working papers from International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Abstract: A large proportion of Malawian households are caught in a trap where poverty and food insecurity reinforce one another and where periods of food deficits and severe food crises are frequent occurrences. In recognition of this, the Malawian government has since 2005/06 implemented a large-scale Farm Input Subsidy Program (FISP), which supplies half of smallholder farmers with sufficient fertilizer and maize seeds to satisfy the maize consumption needs of an average-sized family. While the program boosted maize production and lowered maize prices, thus ensuring increased caloric availability at the household level, its effect on overall food consumption, dietary diversity, micronutrient deficiency, and child nutrition is less clear. This study evaluates household expenditure survey data to measure changes in nutrition outcomes between 2004/05 and 2010/11.

Keywords: nutrition security; seeds; maize; farm inputs; smallholders; nutrition; trace elements; vitamin deficiencies; food security; subsidies; diet; dietary diversity; Malawi; Africa; Sub-Saharan Africa; Southern Africa; Eastern Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

Downloads: (external link)
https://hdl.handle.net/10568/151194

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fpr:masspp:6

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in MaSSP working papers from International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().