of paying rent and taxes or receive an inadequate payment for their produce, leaving them vulnerable to food insecurity. It is probable that rapid social and economic changes took place in Central and East Africa in the late pre-colonial and early colonial periods. Some individuals found new opportunities to increase their wealth and status, but others (particularly women) lost a degree of their former security and became marginalised. The 1949 famine was centered on the Shire Highlands and around the shores of Lake Malawi and, as the last major famine in this area was in 1926, it was unexpected and unprepared for. The rains failed in December and again in March: the worst affected areas had less than half their normal rain. The maize crop was only 65 to 70% of the normal harvests of 1950 and 1951 and was preceded by two quite poor harvests, which reduced smallholders’ reserves. Government and mission employees, many urban workers and some estate tenants received free or subsidised food or food on credit, but those less able to cope and those already in poverty suffered most. Traditionally, rural women in Nyasaland shared food with their neighbours and distant relatives, and this continued in the early stages of the 1949 famine. However, as it progressed, food was only shared with close family members, not remoter relatives, and the old, the young and widows, deserted wives or the wives of absent migrant workers were excluded from food sharing. The term “ganyu" originally meant the food or beer given to neighbours in appreciation of their help with agricultural tasks. However,its use as the term for the work a poor person did for food or cash for more prosperous neighbours arose in the mid-1950s, in response to the 1949-50 famine. In 1949 and 1950, 25,000 tons of food were imported to counteract the famine, although initial deliveries were delayed. The official mortality figure was 100 to 200 deaths, but the true number of may have been higher, and there was severe food shortage and hunger in 1949 and 1950. A detailed study of this famine concluded that large areas of uncultivated land on private estates in the Shire Highlands were not available to African cultivators, who lived on overcrowded Crown Land, where growing tobacco competed with food crops, creating food insecurity. The formation if a Maize Control Board, established in 1947 may also have worsened the situation.