the precedents ' of established patterns,
rather than to process data themselves.
This may go far toward explaining
"tradition", "conservatism", and "habit" in
resource use, and may help to explain the
considerable uniformity observed in
decisionmaking among small-scale farmers
(Simon 1957).
All aspects of decisionmaking are
closely tied to local culture, technological
levels, and peer group pressure. Small-
scale farmers rarely make massive
decisions, but they do make small,
incremental decisions that in aggregate
might lead to large-scale changes. Thus
they gradually adjust existing patterns so
that an optimum pattern might evolve
over a longer time period. This is closely
related to the availability of information;
the completeness of an individual's
"decision environment" beinga function of
both the customary and formal levels of
education achieved, the communication
system, and the motivation and willingness
to make an effort to obtain information.
There are major differences between
community and individual decisions. The
former appear to be more deliberate,
explicit and often better publicized.
Generally, too, they are of greater
importance in establishing and
maintaining patterns of resource use
within communities and regions. The
effkiency with which decisions are made,
together with the distribution of benefits,
are the two major determinants of success
in the adoption ofaninnovation, especially
a community endeavor.
In agricultural households in Central
MalaGi, for example, most household
decisions are made after consultation
between both conjugal partners and,
despite a matrilineal social organization,
the wife's brother(s1 have no say in the
decisions (Mthinda1980; Phiri1981), even
in female-headed households. The
traditional division of agricultural
responsibilities and associated
decisionmaking regarding resource
allocation has important implications for
the development of aquaculture and, in
particular, for the development of
integrated farming. Of the fish farmers
surveyed in Zomba District, Southern
MalaGi, 31% of respondents reported
disagreements with their wives over
agricultural resource allocation. Since ina
matrilineal society women perceive
themselves as being principally responsible
for household subsistence, which is seen
as being quite different from aquaculture,
the decision about the use of potential
pond inputs, such as maize bran, devolves
on the women rather than on the men,
who are those primarily responsible for
aquaculture decisionmaking. Five per cent
of fish farmers reported that their wives
had refused to, permit the use of maize
bran as a pond input, claiming that there
were more pressing usesfor it (Mills1989).
It has been frequently averred that
many subsistence farmers in developing
countries are concerned to produce only
enough to ensure their household
subsistence base, since they value"1eisure"
more than a cash income obtained from
sale of agricultural surpluses. However,
in MalaGi, for example, surveys
demonstrate the western economic
rationality of small-scale farmers who live
above a subsistence base. For example,
Minford and Ohs (1970) concluded that
there is a significant positive response by
farmers to higher producer prices and a
negative response to higher consumer
prices; Brown (n.d.), in a nationwide
survey, found that planting decisions
depend more on yield risk than on price or
income factors, that increased income
promoted increased labor input, and that
higher prices and incomes led to increased
consumption, higher output and greater
use of improved technology; and Gordon
(1 971) calculated the supply response
function and a production function for
each major crop and found that a 1% price