Malawi Household Surveys for Agricultural Biodiversity Assessment

Abstract

To identify and quantify all the useful plant, animal, and aquatic species utilized by rural households and communities in the Dryland Systems CRP sites, as well as information on markets attended and general socioeconomic household characteristics. Within each species, the number of types/varieties/breeds at the household-level that are: (a) grown on farm and home garden, or collected from the wild; (b) consumed as part of the diet; and (c) purchased and sold in the study sites. Information was collected for each species on its place of production or collection (farm, home garden, collected in the wild, etc.), the objective for its production or collection (Self-consumption, sale in the market, both), its different uses (food, medicine, animal feed, building material, processing, etc.), seasonality, the number of types, varieties and breeds recognized and used, key characteristics of its seed system (sources of seed, transactions and social relationships), and the water regime associated with its production (rainfed, irrigated, water harvest, etc.). Socioeconomic data collected were: family size, land owned and cultivated, water resources, housing, ownership of consumer goods, sources of income, social networking etc. This information will be used to characterize three dimensions of ABD: (1) diversity in the production system, including on farm and common lands; (2) dietary diversity; and (3) market diversity; in terms of the elements and relationships involved and the exogenous factors that influence their status and dynamics. These data will be the basis for analyzing the roles of ABD (Agricultural Biodiversity) in the lives and livelihoods of these rural populations in order to identify entry points for designing and implementing interventions that contribute to improve their well-being. A household survey with a representative random sample of 50 households per village for the sections/villages sampled for overall baseline survey in the Ntcheu District of Malawi. Data was collected from from sections/villages selcted from extension areas (EPAs). The total sample size is 340 households. Four extenstion planning areas in the Ntcheu District of Malawi were surveyed: Manjawira, Nsipe, Sharpevale and Tsangano.