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Intercropping and Diversity: An Economic Analysis of Cropping Patterns on Smallholder Farms in Malawi

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 October 2008

Louise Shaxson  and
Loren W. Tauer
Louise Shaxson
Affiliation:
Economics, Social and Statistics Department, Natural Resources Institute, Central Avenue, Chatham Maritime, Kent ME4 4TB, England
Loren W. Tauer
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics, Warren Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca NY 14853, USA
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Summary

The diversity of cropping patterns on smallholder farms in southern Malawi was analysed using a framework that explicitly incorporates the extent of intercropping in each field. Diversity is defined as the relative abundance of each crop in the overall cropping pattern. Six indices of diversity were constructed for 208 farms and used in a model of a welfare-maximizing farm household to examine the reasons for diversity in cropping patterns; multiple regression techniques were used to determine the effect of different household characteristics on diversity. The results suggest that an increase in labour availability over the production period is associated with a more diverse cropping pattern. Landholding size also influences diversity, which rises to a maximum and then falls as the area cultivated per capita increases. Farmers who grow a non-food cash crop (tobacco) have more diverse cropping patterns than those who do not. As diversity increases, farmers use intercrop patterns that are more substitutive than additive.

Type
Research Article
Information
Experimental Agriculture , Volume 28 , Issue 2 , April 1992 , pp. 211 - 228
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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