Dilemmas of development: burley tobacco, the environment and economic growth in Malawi

Journal of Southern African Studies

Volumn 24, Issue 2, 1998, Pages 405-424

  Tobin, Richard J ^a   Knausenberger, Walter I ^b  

^a KPMG Peat Marwick   (United States)

^b UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ECONOMIC GROWTH; ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT; SMALLHOLDERS; TOBACCO PRODUCTION;

MALAWI;

EID: 0031694608     PISSN: 03057070     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/03057079808708582     Document Type: Article

References (93)

1. US Bureau of the Census, Center for International Research, 'HIV/AIDS Surveillance Database' (Washington, D.C., 1994).
2. United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Handbook of International Trade and Development Statistics 1994 (Geneva, UNCTAD, 1995), p. 339.
3. Several large lakes, including Lake Malawi, comprise about one-quarter of Malawi's area, thus diminishing the area available for habitation and agriculture.
4. Among the thirteen African countries for which the World Bank has data, Malawi has the highest level of income inequality. See The World Bank, Malawi, Human Resources and Poverty: Profile and Priorities for Action (Washington, D.C., World Bank: Report No. 15437-MAI, 1996).
5. Ibid.
6. J. Kydd, 'Malawi in the 1970s: Development Policies and Economic Change', in Malawi: An Alternative Pattern of Development (Edinburgh, University of Edinburgh, Centre of African Studies, Proceedings of a seminar held 24 and 25 May 1984, 1985), pp. 293-380.
7. World Bank, Malawi Agricultural Sector Memorandum: Strategy Options in the 1990s (Washington, D.C., World Bank, Report No. 12805-MAI, 1995), p. 4.
8. Government of Malawi, Department of Research and Environmental Affairs (DREA), Malawi National Environmental Action Plan, Volume I: The Action Plan (Lilongwe, DREA, 1994), p. 29.
9. World Bank, Malawi Agricultural Sector, p. 45.
10. Malawi produced just under 10 per cent of the world's burley tobacco and almost 19 per cent of the world's traded burley tobacco in 1992. This level of production is probably large enough to influence world prices for the crop. See World Bank, Malawi Agricultural Sector, pp. 67, 7 4.
11. J. McCracken, 'Planters, Peasants and the Colonial State: The Impact of the Native Tobacco Board in the Central Province of Malawi', Journal of Southern African Studies 9, 2 (April 1983), pp. 172-192.
12. Ibid., p. 182.
13. Kydd, 'Malawi in the 1970s'.
14. USAID/Malawi, Agricultural Sector Assistance Programme, Vol. I (Lilongwe, USAID/Malawi, 1991), p. 70.
15. Ibid., p. 70.
16. Ibid., pp. 65-66.
17. Ibid., p. 12.
18. Ibid., p. 9. World Bank, Malawi Agricultural Sector, p. 26, notes that the disparity continued into the early 1990s.
19. Ibid., p. 9. World Bank, Malawi Agricultural Sector, p. 26, notes that the disparity continued into the early 1990s.
20. World Bank, Malawi Agricultural Sector, p. 100.
21. USAID/Malawi, Agricultural Sector Assistance Programme, p. 2.
22. See IFAD, 'Malawi Smallholder Food Security Project' (Rome, IFAD, 1993), p. 4.
23. See USAID/Malawi, Malawi Agriculture Sector Assistance Programme (ASAP) 612-0239, PAAD Amendment (USAID/Malawi, Lilongwe, 1994), p. 20.
24. See J. Carvalho, D. Gordon, D. Hirschmann, D. Martella and E. Simmons, Mid-term Evaluation of the Agricultural Sector Assistance Programme (ASAP) (Lilongwe, USAID/Malawi, 1993), p. 33.
25. Ibid., Annex Table 8.
26. USAID/Malawi, 'USAID/Malawi Results Review and Resource Request, FY 96' (Lilongwe, USAID/Malawi, 1997), p. 7.
27. H. Schmick, 'Malawi Tobacco: Annual Report', MI7001 (1997), a report produced by the US Department of Agriculture. Available at: http://www.fas.usda.gov/scriptsw/AttacheRep/attache_dout.idc?Rep_ID = 10007116.0〉.
28. Carvalho et al., Mid-term Evaluation, pp. 22, 29; World Bank, Malawi Agricultural Sector, p. 76.
29. Carvalho et al., Mid-term Evaluation, pp. 22, 29; World Bank, Malawi Agricultural Sector, p. 76.
30. USAID/Malawi, 'USAID/Malawi Results Review', p. 3.
31. P.A. Walker, 'Report on the Socio-Economic Survey', in University of Arizona and Clark University, The Malawi Environmental Monitoring Programme (MEMP I), Phase One (1993-1995): Final Report (Lilongwe, University of Arizona, 1996), Annex 3, pp. 4, 5.
32. World Bank, 'Memorandum to the Executive Directors: Policy on Tobacco', R91-225 (Washington, D.C., World Bank, 1991), pp. 1-2.
33. See World Bank, The World Bank Operational Manual: Operational Policies, Operational Policy 4.76, Tobacco (Washington, D.C., World Bank, 1994).
34. FAO, Assessment of the Current World Food Security Situation and Medium Term Review (Rome, FAO, Committee on World Food Security, 1995), pp. 12-13.
35. World Bank, African Development Indicators 1996 (Washington, D.C., World Bank, 1996), p. 234.
36. D.E. Sahn and J. Arulpragasam, 'Land Tenure, Dualism and Poverty in Malawi', in M. Lipton and J. van der Gaag (eds), Including the Poor (Washington, D.C., World Bank, 1993), p. 329.
37. See, for example, UNCTAD, Economic Role of Tobacco Production and Exports in Countries Depending on Tobacco as a Major Source of Income, UNCTAD/COM/63, GE.95-51627 (Geneva, UNCTAD, 1995), p. 17.
38. See M. Vaughan, The Story of an African Famine: Gender and Famine in Twentieth Century Malawi (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1987), p. 85.
39. University of Arizona, The Malawi Environmental Monitoring Programme, pp. 10-11.
40. World Bank, Malawi Agricultural Sector, p. 30, and Schmick, 'Malawi Tobacco'.
41. World Bank, Malawi Agricultural Sector, p. 30, and Schmick, 'Malawi Tobacco'.
42. USAID's 'Policy Determination: Assistance to Support Agricultural Export Development', PD-15 (Washington, D.C., USAID, 1986) governs the agency's implementation of this requirement, which is commonly called the Bumpers' amendment. The directive instructs agency staff 'to avoid supporting the production of agricultural commodities for export by developing countries when the commodities would directly compete with exports of similar US agricultural commodities to third countries and have a significant impact on US exporters'.
43. U. Lele, 'Growth of Foreign Assistance and Its Impact on Agriculture', in J. Mellor, C. Delgado and M. Blackie (eds), Accelerating Food Production in Sub-Saharan Africa (Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987), pp. 321-342; Office of Technology Assessment, Enhancing Agriculture in Africa: a Role for U.S. Development Assistance (Washington, D.C., US Government Printing Office, 1988).
44. U. Lele, 'Growth of Foreign Assistance and Its Impact on Agriculture', in J. Mellor, C. Delgado and M. Blackie (eds), Accelerating Food Production in Sub-Saharan Africa (Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987), pp. 321-342; Office of Technology Assessment, Enhancing Agriculture in Africa: a Role for U.S. Development Assistance (Washington, D.C., US Government Printing Office, 1988).
45. US Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, Commercial Agricultural Division, 'Tobacco Situation and Outlook' (April 1985).
46. World Bank, 'Memorandum to the Executive Directors', p. 8, and World Bank, Malawi Agricultural Sector, p. 74.
47. World Bank, 'Memorandum to the Executive Directors', p. 8, and World Bank, Malawi Agricultural Sector, p. 74.
48. Ibid., p. 116.
49. R.J.A. Goodland, C. Watson, and G. Ledec, Environmental Management in Tropical Agriculture (Boulder, Westview Press, 1984).
50. USAID/Malawi and Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MOALD), 'Evaluation of the 1991-1992 Smallholder Burley Programme' (Lilongwe, MOALD, 1993).
51. Ministry of Research and Environmental Affairs (MOREA), Malawi Environmental Monitoring Programme: 1st Environmental Monitoring Report (Lilongwe, MOREA, 1996), p. 2.
52. World Bank, Malawi, Human Resources, p. 39.
53. J.D. Lowore, H.C. Coote, P.G. Abbot, G.B. Chapola and L.N. Malembo, Community Use and Management of Indigenous Trees and Forest Products in Malawi: the Case of Four Villages Close to Chimaliro Forest Reserve (Zomba, Forestry Research Institute of Malawi, FRIM Report No. 93008, 2nd edn, 1995), p. 14.
54. O. K. Aliro, Uganda: Paying the Price of Growing Tobacco (Kampala, Monitor Publications, 1993).
55. Economist Intelligence Unit, Tobacco and Food Crops Production in the Third World (London, Economist Intelligence Unit, 1983).
56. Tobacco Association of Malawi, 'Tobacco Crops are not Responsible for Deforestation, says TAMA', TAMA News Release, 4 March 1996, Lilongwe.
57. G.Z. Jere, Energy and Mineral Resources Development and the Environment (Lilongwe, MOREA, NEAP Task Force No. 6, 1993). This estimate may not be only for construction of tobacco barns.
58. M.R. de Montalembert and J. Clément, Fuelwood Supplies in the Developing Countries (Rome, FAO, 1983), p. 122.
59. D. French, 'Confronting an Unsolvable Problem: Deforestation in Malawi', World Development, 4 (1986), p. 534.
60. Government of Malawi, Department of Research and Environmental Affairs (DREA), Environmental Monitoring Programme for Malawi (Lilongwe, DREA, 1993), p. 2.
61. F. Mponda, 'Malawi: Disappearing Forests Go Up in Smoke', Africa Information Afrique, 1996. Available at 〈gopher://csf.Colorado.EDU:70/00/ipe/Them ... awi/1996/960227.mal.Forests_Disappearing〉.
62. Mponda, 'Disappearing Forests'.
63. International Tobacco Growers' Association, 'The Use of Woodfuel for Curing Tobacco', 1997. Available at 〈http://www.tobacco.org/papers/infot11.htm〉.
64. World Bank, Malawi Agricultural Sector, p. 109.
65. MOREA, National Environmental Action Plan, p. 67.
66. World Health Organization, 'The Farming of Tobacco and Its Environmental Impact'. Statement released on World No-Smoking Day (Geneva, World Health Organization, 1995).
67. World Bank, Malawi Agricultural Sector Memorandum, p. 116.
68. See, for example, R.J. Tobin, 'Pest Management, the Environment, and Japanese Foreign Assistance', Food Policy 21, 2 (May 1996), pp. 211-228 and 'Pesticides, the Environment, and U.S. Foreign Assistance', International Environmental Affairs, 8, 3 (Summer 1996), pp. 244-266.
69. See, for example, R.J. Tobin, 'Pest Management, the Environment, and Japanese Foreign Assistance', Food Policy 21, 2 (May 1996), pp. 211-228 and 'Pesticides, the Environment, and U.S. Foreign Assistance', International Environmental Affairs, 8, 3 (Summer 1996), pp. 244-266.
70. USAID, 'Environmental Procedures', 22 Code of Federal Regulations 216; originally published in the Federal Register (Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office, 1980), pp. 70239-49.
71. J. Hecht, Environmental Monitoring, Evaluation, and Mitigation Plans: a Review of the Experiences in Four African Countries (Arlington, Virginia, Environmental and Natural Resources Policy and Training Project, 1994) and M. Rock, Policy and Institutional Change and the Environment: a Perspective on What is Known and not Known (Arlington, Virginia, Environmental and Natural Resources Policy and Training Project, 1995).
72. J. Hecht, Environmental Monitoring, Evaluation, and Mitigation Plans: a Review of the Experiences in Four African Countries (Arlington, Virginia, Environmental and Natural Resources Policy and Training Project, 1994) and M. Rock, Policy and Institutional Change and the Environment: a Perspective on What is Known and not Known (Arlington, Virginia, Environmental and Natural Resources Policy and Training Project, 1995).
73. For a review of the environmental impacts of USAID's non-project assistance which underscores the difficulties associated with well-intentioned efforts to identify and monitor these impacts see Rock, Policy and Institutional Change.
74. USAID/Malawi, Agricultural Sector Assistance Programme, p. 85.
75. Ibid., vol. 1, p. 3;
76. vol. 2, pp. 16-17, 19.
77. USAID/Malawi, Malawi Agriculture Sector: PAAD Amendment, Annex B, p. 4.
78. Government of Malawi, Environmental Monitoring Programme, pp. 5-6.
79. Ibid., p. 7.
80. Interview with Ministry of Agriculture official, August 23, 1996.
81. MOREA, Malawi Environmental Monitoring Programme, p. x.
82. See Carvalho et al., Mid-term Evaluation, p. 15. Licensees were granted a specific weight of tobacco to produce; proportions refer to shares of the national tonnage allocated.
83. See McCracken, 'Planters', p. 187; J. McCracken, 'Share-Cropping in Malawi: the Visiting Tenant System in the Central Province, c. 1920-1968', in Malawi: An Alternative Pattern of Development, pp. 33-65; and Vaughan, The Story of an African Famine, p. 25. French, 'Confronting an Unsolvable Problem', p. 532, noted in 1986 that many of Malawi's farmers do not appreciate the sense of crisis that affects the country's shortage of wood.
84. See McCracken, 'Planters', p. 187; J. McCracken, 'Share-Cropping in Malawi: the Visiting Tenant System in the Central Province, c. 1920-1968', in Malawi: An Alternative Pattern of Development, pp. 33-65; and Vaughan, The Story of an African Famine, p. 25. French, 'Confronting an Unsolvable Problem', p. 532, noted in 1986 that many of Malawi's farmers do not appreciate the sense of crisis that affects the country's shortage of wood.
85. See McCracken, 'Planters', p. 187; J. McCracken, 'Share-Cropping in Malawi: the Visiting Tenant System in the Central Province, c. 1920-1968', in Malawi: An Alternative Pattern of Development, pp. 33-65; and Vaughan, The Story of an African Famine, p. 25. French, 'Confronting an Unsolvable Problem', p. 532, noted in 1986 that many of Malawi's farmers do not appreciate the sense of crisis that affects the country's shortage of wood.
86. See McCracken, 'Planters', p. 187; J. McCracken, 'Share-Cropping in Malawi: the Visiting Tenant System in the Central Province, c. 1920-1968', in Malawi: An Alternative Pattern of Development, pp. 33-65; and Vaughan, The Story of an African Famine, p. 25. French, 'Confronting an Unsolvable Problem', p. 532, noted in 1986 that many of Malawi's farmers do not appreciate the sense of crisis that affects the country's shortage of wood.
87. S. Moodie, 'Environmental Indicators and Change: Results of a Qualitative Survey of Smallholders in Four Cathchments'. in University of Arizona, The Malawi Environmental Monitoring Programme, Annex 1.
88. Ibid., p. 19.
89. MOREA, Malawi Environmental Monitoring Programme, p. 46.
90. University of Arizona, The Malawi Environmental Monitoring Programme, pp. 26, 31.
91. World Bank, Economywide Policies and the Environment: Emerging Lessons from Experience (Washington, D.C., World Bank, 1994); Rock, Policy and Institutional Change; C.E.F. Young and J. Bishop, Adjustment Policies and the Environment: a Critical Review of the Literature (London, International Institute for Environment and Development, 1995).
92. World Bank, Economywide Policies and the Environment: Emerging Lessons from Experience (Washington, D.C., World Bank, 1994); Rock, Policy and Institutional Change; C.E.F. Young and J. Bishop, Adjustment Policies and the Environment: a Critical Review of the Literature (London, International Institute for Environment and Development, 1995).
93. World Bank, Economywide Policies and the Environment: Emerging Lessons from Experience (Washington, D.C., World Bank, 1994); Rock, Policy and Institutional Change; C.E.F. Young and J. Bishop, Adjustment Policies and the Environment: a Critical Review of the Literature (London, International Institute for Environment and Development, 1995).