By classifying the family into component economic forms and disaggregating other family economic data, the author examines the relationship between the pattern of distribution of responsibilities and resources among different family members on the one hand, and crop and livestock production and exchange on the other, as well as the implications of this relationship for development. Most of the data comes from agroeconomic surveys conducted in Mbawa area (Mzimbo District) and in Mwenitete area (Karonga District) in Malawi in 1970-1972. In Karonga, the analysis demonstrated that joint male-female farming would be ideal for maximum production of both rice and maize, but that male control would be ideal for maximizing sales. With regard to Mbawa, joint male-female control would seem to be the best strategy. In contrast, the larger productivity of women in growing Turkish tobacco, millet and groundnuts, as well as the larger market orientation of women with regard to the exchange of groundnuts, suggests female control as the ideal. Lastly, concerning livestock, the ideal economic form for exchange maximization varies with the animal: poultry, cattle, pigs. Notes, ref.
