National Census of Agriculture and Livestock 2006/7: Malawi Census Themes 11: Household Food Security

1. REGIONAL ROUNDTABLE ON
WORLD PROGRAMME FOR THE CENSUS OF AGRICULTURE
2020
NAIROBI, KENYA, 18-22 SEPTEMBER 2017
National Census of Agriculture and Livestock 2006/7:
Malawi
Technical Session 13: Census Themes 11: Household
Food Security
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Tiope Mleme Emmanuel
Mwanaleza
Assistant Commissioner of Statistics Principal Statistician
National Statistics Office Ministry of Agriculture
tmleme@yahoo.co.uk jofilisimwanaleza@yahoo.com

2. Outline
Introduction
Methodology
Modules and Approach for the Agriculture
Census
Food security and HIV/AIDS
Lessons Learnt
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3. Introduction
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4.  The National Census of Agriculture and Livestock (NACAL) was
conducted by the Agriculture Statistics Division of the National
Statistical Office (NSO) in collaboration with the Ministry of
Agriculture and Food Security (MoAFS) between October 2006
and October 2007.
 The NACAL is the fourth census of Agriculture to be conducted in
Malawi, the last being that of 1991/92 National Sample Survey of
Agriculture (NSSA).
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5.  It was part of a concerted effort by government to provide
relevant information on the structure of agriculture in the country,
especially in view of its importance to the economy.
 The census was designed to collect information on different aspects
of small holder agriculture including crops grown, area planted and
production, land husbandly practices, food security, marketing and
structure of the small holder sector.
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6.  Norwegian Government provided the bulk of the funds
 Statistics Norway - technical assistance - resident technical advisor
 Coordination: NSO in collaboration with Ministry of Agriculture.
NSO –led the process
 The NACAL recruited about 600 enumerators, supervised by 60
district supervisors and 10 National supervisors.
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7. Methodology
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8.  Two stage sample design ;
1st
sampling units : Enumeration Areas (EAs)
2nd
sampling units: farming households.
 Stratification was done at district level and at EA level.
 Each district was stratified by agro- ecological zones and each EA
was stratified by land cultivated (small scale farmers and large
scale farmers).
 Stratification was done to improve the precision of the estimates
by reducing the variance between EA and within EA.
 It was based on a random sample that covered 25 000
households drawn from all districts of the country.
 The sample size at EA level was 15 households.
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9. Modules and Approach for the Agriculture
Census
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10. Modules
 Module 1: Household Composition
 Module 2: Land parcel
 Module 3: Plot details
 Module 4: Food security and HIV/AIDS
 Module 5: Marketing
 Module 6: Welfare Monitoring Survey
 Module 7: Livestock Survey
 Module 8: Village facility
 Module 9: Estate Survey
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11. Approach
 A modular approach was employed for data collection.
 Data collection on food security took place during the
months of January, June and September 2007, using
Modules 1 (Household Composition) and 4 (Food
security and HIV/AIDS).
 The questions asked were almost identical in the three
rounds.
 Data collection for the information on HIV/AIDS took
place during the months of June 2007, using
information from Module 4: (Food security and
HIV/AIDS).
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12. Approach Cntd’…
 Information on production and area under cultivation
came from module 3 (Plot details)
 Livestock information came from module 7 (Livestock
Survey)
 Community level information was from module 8
(Village facility)
 Module 4 did not provide any background information
at household level. This information was collected in
Module 1, as well as in the Welfare Monitoring Survey
and was added on to Module 4 data to analyze various
household groups. Holding size was provided from
Module 2 (Land parcel ).
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13. Module 4: Food security and HIV/AIDS
 The sampled households were asked about food
security and nutrition status at three different points
in the agricultural season as follows;
 In January, when food supply might start to run out.
 In June, when food is expected to be plenty because
of the recent harvest.
 In September, when food supply is expected to be
low, because this is after sale of produce.
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14. Sections of Food Security Module
 Food Supply: At all three points in time, the
households were asked about food reserves either from
the 2006/07 or the previous agricultural season.
 Food sources : Households were asked on the sources
of food i.e. own production, purchase or other
sources.
 Number of meals taken daily: Captured information on
daily number of meals eaten by the households during
a 7-day period reference
 Food scarcity : Households were asked if they were
able to keep up a normal diet

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15. Sections of Food Security Module
 Production of various crops: Production figures were
collected on all smallholder farms in rural and district
urban centres, and estates were excluded. Apart from
cassava and potatoes where fresh weight was used, dry
weight was used in all crops to calculate production
 Area under cultivation: Area under cultivation for
various crops for pure stand only. This covers all major
food and cash crops grown in the agricultural season.
 Yield of various crops : Yield was determined by crop
cutting method
 Fruits cultivation: Provided number of fruit trees by
type and production of fruits at national, regional and
household levels
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16. Lessons Learnt
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17. 1.Old sampling frame
i.e. used 1998 PHC sampling frame. The agriculture
census was conducted before the 2008 PHC. The next
census has been shifted to 2020 i.e to be conducted after
the 2018 PHC
2.Use of PAPI
Took time to process data and delayed results.
Plan to migrate to the use of CAPI in the next census
3. Strong funding and commitment by both Government and
Development Partners
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18. 1. Dissemination Plan:
The previous census had weak dissemination plan i.e. late
dissemination
Need for a comprehensive publicity and dissemination and
archiving strategy for the next round of the agricultural census
1. Good staffing:
Combined both temporary and permanent staff i.e.
agricultural extension workers
4. PES
-missed
- To be included in the next census
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19. Thank you
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