From approximately 1950 to 1980 Malawi enjoyed adequate and reliable rains. Food security seemed assured and consumption exceeded production only in five years in this period, none leading to serious shortages. This supported the dual agricultural policy, developed since 1961 by Hastings Banda, first as Agriculture minister, later President, of securing food self-sufficiency through smallholder maize production and promoting cash crops, particularly tobacco on estates. However, this apparently successful dual policy faltered in the late 1970s. Banda retained control over agricultural policies as Prime Minister in 1964 and President from 1966 to 1994, so its successes or failures were primarily his. Banda recognised Malawi had few resources other than agriculture. He at first favoured smallholder agriculture, as few European-owned estates remained. However, the policy of growing Burley tobacco on estates was developed from 1968. Burley tobacco is a fairly inexpensive air-cured variety used as a filler for certain cigarettes im contrast to the more expensive flue-cured variety. In 1966, President Banda argued that customary land tenure was insecure and inhibited investment. The Customary Land Development Act, 1967 allowed the creation of agricultural leases of up to 99 years over Customary Land. Many in the Central Region were intended to grow Burley tobacco and controlled by Banda himself, or senior officials and politicians. There were 229 mostly European-owned estates of 79,000 hectares in 1970, but 14,355 of 759,000 hectares in 1989 and their final area exceeded a million hectares. Only about 25% of the land was used in a four-year tobacco cultivation rotation. Many estates became insolvent, despite easy credit and were foreclosed by the parastatal banks. When estates were formed, former residents lost their Customary Land rights and left or became estate labourers or tenants. There were 51,000 agricultural workers (mostly on tea estates) in 1968, 181,000 in 1980 and 200,000 in 1990. Tenants replaced employees later and 675,000 estate tenants were registered in 1990 and 580,000 “squatters” lived on surplus land as a low-paid casual labour pool. Few grew all their food but relied on rations or purchases. This occupation of land by inefficient tobacco estates undermined food security. With more intensive agricultural use, the amounts and duration of fallow were progressively reduced in more populous areas. A situation approaching continuous mono-cropping developed on many Malawian smallholdings, which placed soil fertility under gradually increasing pressure Maize monocropping without fallow or fertiliser leads to reduced yields, but even so, up