Development projects in Sub-Saharan Africa propose to alleviate hunger in rural areas by introducing new agricultural practices and technologies, yet there is limited empirical evidence of how an agricultural intervention can lead farming households to transition to food security. Research on food security pathways considers agricultural interventions that increase farmers’ income to be particularly effective for reducing food insecurity. Consistent with this stance, Malawian agricultural policy aims to address hunger by encouraging smallholder farmers to intensify and commercialize maize production. This paper explores if smallholders’ market and livelihood orientations do indeed lead them to favor an income pathway to food security. Qualitative analysis of 60 smallholder farmer interviews in Malawi found that, upon achieving improvements in production yields and diversity, rather than commercialize, many farmers re-organized their production and consumption to reduce market dependency. Farmers deployed this strategy to increase their food security, explaining that the choice to self-provision food and farming inputs was both an expression of farming identity and a lived understanding of their marginal position in commodity markets. The author finds that, in failing to consider how production relations affect food access, scholarship inadequately theorizes farm-level food security transitions and reproduces discursive framings of hunger. Food sovereignty narratives more accurately captured what mattered for Malawian smallholders’ food security, suggesting that engagement with this concept could improve scientific understandings of food security transitions.

撒哈拉以南非洲的发展项目提议通过引入新的农业实践和技术来减轻农村地区的饥饿，但关于如何采取措施的经验证据有限农业干预可以引导农户向粮食安全过渡。关于粮食安全途径的研究认为，增加农民收入的农业干预措施对于减少粮食不安全特别有效。与这一立场一致，马拉维的农业政策旨在通过鼓励小农将玉米生产集约化和商业化来解决饥饿问题。本文探讨了小农的市场和生计导向是否确实使他们倾向于通过收入途径实现粮食安全。对马拉维 60 名小农访谈的定性分析发现，在实现产量和多样性的提高后，许多农民并没有将其商业化，而是重新组织了他们的生产和消费，以减少对市场的依赖。农民采用这一战略来提高他们的粮食安全，并解释说选择自给粮食和农业投入物既是农业身份的表达，也是对他们在商品市场中的边际地位的生动理解。作者发现，由于没有考虑生产关系如何影响粮食获取，学术研究未能充分理论化农场层面的粮食安全过渡，并再现饥饿的话语框架。粮食主权的叙述更准确地捕捉到了对马拉维小农的粮食安全至关重要的因素，表明参与这一概念可以提高对粮食安全转型的科学理解。解释说，选择自行供应食物和农业投入既是农业身份的表达，也是对其在商品市场中的边际地位的生动理解。作者发现，由于没有考虑生产关系如何影响粮食获取，学术研究未能充分理论化农场层面的粮食安全过渡，并再现饥饿的话语框架。粮食主权的叙述更准确地捕捉到了对马拉维小农的粮食安全至关重要的因素，表明参与这一概念可以提高对粮食安全转型的科学理解。解释说，选择自行供应粮食和农业投入既是农业身份的表达，也是对其在商品市场中的边际地位的生动理解。作者发现，由于没有考虑生产关系如何影响粮食获取，学术研究未能充分理论化农场层面的粮食安全过渡，并再现饥饿的话语框架。粮食主权的叙述更准确地捕捉到了对马拉维小农的粮食安全至关重要的因素，表明参与这一概念可以提高对粮食安全转型的科学理解。