The question of the cultivation of cash crops in Africa south of Sahara has long been debated. We have examined the situation of cash crop cultivation for the peasant of northern Mozambique. What factors are needed for a peasant to be able to choose to cultivate cash crops and what are the effects on the peasant’s situation when cultivating cash crops? With help from James C. Scott’s theories about food security and the safety first principle see how the possibilities are for the peasant to grow cash crops. By using the Lewis two-sector model we have examined the possibilities for a peasant of northern Mozambique abilities to make the transition from the agricultural sector to the industrial sector. We found this model insufficient to explain the transition of labour in the Mozambican society. The model needs two additional sectors to fully explain the transition in Mozambique. These sectors, cash crop and semi-industrial, are needed because the transition is too far in terms of productivity and technology. An extensive cash crop production is therefore important for the economic development. We have also found that food security is important for the peasants in order to start growing cash crops.

Climate change and weather phenomena like the El Niño-La Niña Southern Oscillation aremaking agriculture increasingly vulnerable in the Global South. In Malawi, where morethan 90% of the agriculture is rain-fed, food insecurity is becoming an annual problem. Inthe past, governmental policies have focused on improving maize production, which has ledinto mono-culture and a dependency on this crop resulting in acceleration of food insecurity.To fight hunger, non-governmental organisations and international donors are now focusingon promoting cassava due to its low-input requirements and drought resistance. Althoughcassava is marketed as somewhat of ’a new discovery’ in Malawi, the root crop has beencultivated in the country for nearly as long as maize. This thesis explores the historicalecology of cassava in Malawi and its involvement in historical food crises, where it wasused as a famine crop. Nowadays, cassava is mostly promoted as a cash crop but variousconstraints are still in the way of cassava production and processing which will be examinedin this thesis. Furthermore, the thesis explores the eects of agricultural policies on cassavaand the ways in which non-governmental organisations are promoting cassava. It will alsobe shown that the perception of cassava is not unison in Malawi and that the promotionof cassava should be adapted to the specific local situations. Additionally, based on thehistorical and current experience of cassava cultivation in Malawi, the possible eectsof an increased cassava cultivation and processing on food security will be discussed, inparticular based on the three dimensions of food security: food availability, food access andfood use.

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