The Effects of Sand Mining on Poverty Status in Malawi: A Case Study of Lilongwe Urban
Abstract
This study aimed at assessing the effect of income from sand mining on poverty and whether there is income inequality among sand mining households and those that are not involved in sand mining. Using the household poverty model, the findings show that sand mining contributes significantly to household consumption but not significant enough to reduce poverty. The results further show that there is relatively high inequality among sand mining households as compared to the non-mining households due to the owner-worker organisation of the activity. However there is relatively less inequality between sand miners and non-sand miners. This means the two groups experience similar levels of welfare. The study concludes that since sand mining as it is may not really lift the involved households above the poverty line, measures have to be designed that can regulate and improve the activity in order to make it more profitable. Alternatively, the households involved in sand mining should be encouraged to engage in other income generating activities that are more sustainable. This is because though sand mining may derive significant income for households, the long term effects may be detrimental to the environment and the local society.
References
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3. Cavendish (2000), ‘Empirical Regularities in The Poverty-Environmental Relationship of the Rural households; Evidence from Zimbabwe’, World Development 28(11);1979-2003.
4. Dasgupta, S., Deichmann, U., Meisner, C. and Wheeler, D. (2003) “The Poverty/Environment Nexus in Cambodia and Lao People’s Democratic Republic”, Policy Research Working Paper 2960, World Bank.
5. Datt, G., Simler, K., Mukherjee, S. and Dava, G. (2000). “Determinants of Poverty in Mozambique: 1996-1997”, Discussion Paper No.78, IFPRI- Food Consumption and Nutrition Division.
6. Dreschler B. (2001) “Small Scale Mining and Sustainable Development within the SADC Region”, Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development Report, Santren/ITDG.
7. D’Souza, K. P. C. J. (2002) “Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in Africa: A Reality Check”, Seminar Paper on Artisanal and Small Scale Mining in Africa, Younde, Cameroon, 2002.
8. Ellis, F. (2000). Rural Livelihoods and Diversity in Developing Countries, Oxford University press, New York.
9. Foster, G., Greer, J. and Thorbecke, E. (1984). “A Class of Decomposable Poverty Measures”, Journal of Econometrica, Vol.52, No.3, pp.761-766.
10. GoM (2001). “The determinants of poverty in Malawi, 1998”, An Analysis of the Malawi Integrated Household Survey, 1997-98. National Economic Council, National Statistical Office, IFPRI.
11. GoM (2002) ‘State of the Environment for Malawi.’ Available: http://www.sdnp.org.mw/enviro/act/index.html.
12. Grootaert, C. (1997). “The Determinants of Poverty in Cote d’Ivoire in the 1980s”, Journal of African Economies, Vol.6, No.2, pp.169-196.
13. Gujarati D. N. (2003). Basic Econometrics 4th ed. McGraw-Hill/Irwin, New York.
14. Habitat UN (2013) ‘Malawi Reports: Urban Profiles of Blantyre, Lilongwe, Mzuzu and Zomba’ Accessed from https://www.urbanafrica.net.
15. Hilson, G. (2002) “Small-scale Mining and its Socio-Economic Impact in DevelopingCountries’ Environmental Policy & Management Group (EPMG) Report, Royal School of Mines, London.
16. Khan, S. and Sugie, A. (2015) ‘Sand Mining and Its Social Impacts on Local Society in Rural Bangladesh: A Case Study of a Village in Tangail District’ Journal of Urban and Regional Studies on Contemporary India, 2 (1):1-11 (2015)
17. Lufumpa. C.L (2005), ‘The Poverty –Environment Nexus in Africa’, African Development Review, 17(3): 366-381.
18. Majawa, R. (2016) ‘Malawi: Sand Mining, Unlawful, Blantyre City Council’ Malawi News Agency. Accessed from www.manaonline.gov.mw.
19. Marsland, N., Long, A., Sutherland, A. (1999) “Coping with Poverty in Malawi” Mimeo, Malawi.
20. Mensah, J. A. (2002). ‘Causes and Effects of Coastal Sand Mining in Ghana,’ Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, Vol.18, No.1, pp.69-88.
21. MIME (2002) “Ghana: Poverty Eradication and Sustainable Livelihoods: Focusing on Artisanal Mining Communities”, Seminar Paper on Artisanal and Small Scale Mining in Africa, Yaounde Cameroon, 2005.
22. MMSD (2006) ‘Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining.’ Available: http://www.asmasiapacific.org/asm_livelihood.php
23. Mukherjee, S. and T. Benson (2003). “The Determinants of Poverty in Malawi 1998”, World Development, Vol.31, No.2, pp.339-358.
24. NSO (2013) “Household Socio-Economic Characteristics”, Integrated Household Survey3 2010-2011, National Statistical Office, Zomba, Malawi.
25. NSO (2013) Integrated Household Panel Survey Report, National Statistical Office, Zomba, Malawi.
26. NSO (2014) ‘Welfare Monitoring Survey’ National Statistical Office, Zomba, Malawi.
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28. Reddy, S. R. C. and Chakravarty, S. P. (1999) “Forest Dependence and Income Distribution in a Subsistence Economy: Evidence from India”, World Development Journal, Vol.27, No.7, pp 1141-1149, Elsevier Science Limited.
29. Scoones, I. (1998) “Sustainable Rural Livelihoods: A Framework for Analysis”, Working Paper, No.72, IDS.
30. Steel, W.F. and Snodgrass, D. (2008) “Raising Productivity and Reducing Risks of Household Enterprises: Diagnostic Methodology Framework”, Mimeo, World Bank Africa Region Analysis of the Informal Economy.
31. UNEP/GRID-Arendal (2008). Environment and Poverty Times, May 2008. A Periodic Publication, UNEP/GRID-Arendal.
32. ‘http://mwnation.com/poverty-levels-extreme-in-malawi-unctad/’Accessed: August 2017.
33. Maurice Duverger. (2000). Political Parties (Reprint). Islamabad: National Book Foundation.
Published
2018-05-24
How to Cite
FANDAMU, Mercy Nambamba; FANDAMU, Humphrey.
The Effects of Sand Mining on Poverty Status in Malawi: A Case Study of Lilongwe Urban.
International Journal of Social Sciences, Humanities and Education, [S.l.], v. 2, n. 2, p. 87-104, may 2018.
ISSN 2521-0041.
Available at: <http://www.ijsshe.com/index.php/ijsshe/article/view/63>. Date accessed: 24 mar. 2023.
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Section
Articles
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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