'Maize is Life, but Rice is Money!' A Village Case Study of the 2001/02 Famine in Malawi

This paper provides a case study of the 2001/02 famine in Malawi from a village in the Southern Region of the country. Based on in-depth micro-level field research, it challenges some commonly accepted views about this crisis. The paper provides evidence that: (1) there was a serious 'famine' in the community; (2) the decline in food availability was not the major causal factor of the famine; (3) the early warning system in the rural areas was functioning appropriately and the famine did not happen in 'silence', unnoticed; (4) the food preferences of Malawians are not 'inflexible'; and (5) the famine, contrary to the claims of some of the 'new famine hypotheses', was less the consequence of underlying vulnerability and long-term social or economic trends but, rather, the result of an unexpected and sudden shock, which was generated by the exponential increase in the price of all food crops.