Verses 16 and 17 are probably connected. The ability to produce more in a condition of diminished male-power would have come with the relearning of roles in the society. The women likely took on more of a role in the fields and with the flocks. This relearning of tasks would increase the available manpower pool to the point where goods were more readily available. However, it would also not be a surprise if the households without an able bodied male would have a harder time in food production. This would not be due only to the physical prowess of the male, but the simple fact of fewer hands to accomplish the tasks. Thus a widow might be able to provide for some food, but not what she and her husband could have produced together.
In these tight economic times, Limhi introduces a policy of communal sharing. Remember that we have seen such communal sharing from Alma and his people. It is quite likely that the sharing is typically a result of economic necessity, and that it is related to smaller populations. Here the once prosperous Limhites are greatly reduced in number through warfare. In that smaller population there is greater individual contact, and greater need to share rather than create wealth divisions (or even worse, divisions in the availability of the basic necessities of life).