Welcome to the MaDiPHS Data catalogue

This data catalogueis for demonstration purposes only, is not maintained and contains fictitious example metadata only.

About MaDiPHS

The agricultural sector in Malawi employs more than 70% of the total labour force. 70% of the agricultural labour force are women. Maize is the major food crop, but tobacco is the dominant cash crop. Malawi agriculture relies mainly on rain-fed crop production and is composed of two main subsectors: small-scale farmers and estates. Smallholder production is highly subsistent, characterized by low levels of input and low output levels. However, smallholders still produce about 80 percent of Malawi’s food and 20 percent of its agricultural exports. In addition to maize, the main food crops are cassava, sweet potatoes, sorghum, bananas, rice, and Irish potatoes. The estate subsector contributes only about 20 percent of the total national agricultural food production but provides more than 80 percent of agricultural exports mainly from tobacco, sugar, tea and, to a lesser extent, tung oil, coffee, and macadamia. Livestock production, which contributes about one-fifth of the value of total agricultural production, consists mainly of subsistence grazing of sheep, cattle, goats, poultry, and pigs.