nasfam titukulane magazine

Jan - Mar 2014

The Magazine for National Smallholder Farmers’ Association of Malawi

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GOAT KEEPING................................................................................................. SOYA MANAGEMENT. MAINTAINING OUR WATERING CANES

NTHAZI LA NASFAM

Kuba bupu wa balimi bachokobachoko lapachanya, lakulimbikiska chitukuko na bizinesi ya ulimi nakupereka phindu pa umoyo na chuma cha mamembala ghakhe, madera ghabo kweniso ku chalo chose.

CHAKULATA CHA BUPU WA NASFAM

Chakulata cha bupu wa NASFAM ni kulutiska panthazi umoyo wa balimi bachokobachoko. Pakugwira ntchito kujumphira mwakukorelanako kwa ma Asosiyeshoni, NASFAM ikulimbikiska ulimi nga ni bizinesi kuti chuma cha balimi chilutilile panthazi, kweniso ikugwira ntchito zakupambanapambana pakuvwira kulutiska panthazi ulimi.

MASOMPHENYA

NASFAM idzakhala bungwe la alimi ang’onoang’ono lapamwamba, lolimbikitsa chitukuko ndi bizinesi ya ulimi, ndikupereka phindu pa umoyo ndi chuma cha mamembala ake, madera awo komanso dziko lonse.

CHOLINGA

Cholinga cha NASFAM ndi kutukula miyoyo ya alimi ang’onoang’ono. Pogwira ntchito kudzera mukulumikizana kwa ma asosiyeshoni, NASFAM imalimbikitsa ulimi ngati bizinesi kuti chuma cha alimi chipite patsogolo, komanso imagwira ntchito zosiyanasiyana zothandiza kutukula ulimi.

VISION

To be the leading smallholder owned business and development organisation in Malawi, producing economic and social benefits for members, their communities and the country.

MISSION

NASFAM exists to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. Through a sustainable network of smallholder-owned business organizations, NASFAM promotes farming as a business to develop the commercial capacity of its members and delivers programmes that enhance their productivity and innovation.

CONTENTS2 HUMAN COMPOST MANURE MAKING IN MALAWO VILLAGE 4 MORE STORIES TO TELL FOR SOUTH MZIMBA IPC 6 IN KASINJE, ONE NEW MEMBER SETS AN EXAMPLE FOR ALL

8 ONCE IN CHILD LABOUR BUT NOW MAKING IT THROUGH NASFAM MEMBERSHIP

10 GOAT KEEPING

11SOYA MANAGEMENT

12 WHERE ELSE DID NASFAM PLANT TREES THIS YEAR?

16 MAINTAINING OUR WATERING CANES

17 REFLECTIONS ON POLICY ENVIRONMENT & ITS IMPLICATIONS TO SMALLHOLDER FARMERS

19 NASFAM STRENGTHENING AGRICULTURAL INPUT AND

OUTPUT MARKET LINKAGES

20 BECOME FOOD SECURE IN YOUR HOUSEHOLD ALL YEAR ROUND

A MESSAGE FROM THE CEO

Greetings to you all NASFAM members! I hope you are having a successive harvesting season and for some, the marketing season looks bright.

In this issue of Titukulane, we bring you insight into the necessary steps to take as we harvest some of our crops from the field, grade and store them. Please take some time to read through this as it will serve a great purpose to those of you not so sure about what to do. Let me also add by stating that Titukulane is now taking a broad-er angle as we have also included some insight into livestock keeping. This is of course the first in a long time, but be sure to look out for more of these in the next coming issues. A balanced healthy lifestyle with a variety of food options in our household makes a happy and food secure NASFAM member!

Of course let us not forget the critical aspect in our just begun marketing season; collective marketing. As NASFAM members we have all over the years experienced the perks of selling our produce collectively. I urge you to make sure you get in touch with your fellow members in your GACs and link with your field officers to be aware of the marketing schedule in your area. A little effort and patience for fair and good prices goes a long way, and will surely benefit you in your farm-ing business today, and tomorrow!

Dyborn Chibonga Chief Executive Officer Overall Editing

Tamanda Chabvuta

Editing contributionsBeatrice MakwendaThokozani Galafa

Design and layoutEmpire Kreatives

EDITORIAL TEAM

Call 0992957016 or email [email protected]

to advertise in Titukulane

1January - March 2014

In Zama GAC of S. Mzimba IPC exists a club like no other. This group is called Vitumbiko club and they work in human

compost making, something which many would shun and in most cases, take for granted.

The thirteen members of this group all come from Ehehleni area. What started out as a simple visit by the communi-ty’s Association Field Officer to brief them on what human compost manure making is all about has today transpired into bumper harvests for not just

the members, but also the rest of the village members.

For most, this may be a somewhat unusual task and even many may be dis-gusted, but it was a mere beginning of growing sunflower as a club.

Later on, there was the addi-

tion of cre-ating slabs for manure making.

Malawo Village in T/A

Mbelwa is a model

village and about two years

ago, the Field Officer paid them a visit

and briefed the members on

HUMAN COMPOST MANURE MAKING IN MALAWO VILLAGEFor most, this may be a somewhat unusual task and even many may be disgusted, but it was a mere beginning of grow-ing sunflower.

2 January - March 2014

how to make human compost manure by creating efficient latrines that are used for human compost harvesting.

Five of the village members moulded a slab each for a latrine in their homes; this was all a trial. They merely wished to find out what would happen with use of this type of manure. After a few months of using these five latrines and then harvesting the manure after, crops grown in fields that had this manure applied grew and matured very well compared to other crops without. And as for other crops that had in the past required some fertiliser application, this time around there was no need for any inorganic fertiliser to be ap-plied. They reproduced and bore fruits in no time; this was all the beginning of it.

Today, almost all households of the members of this club have at least one of these types of latrines and they harvest compost manure ev-ery growing season and use in their fields. The manure harvested is also sold to other villagers who are not members of the club. In addition, two other NASFAM clubs in the nearby communities grasped a lesson from Malawo Village’s progress and they also adopted this idea.

While our friends in Malawo village are benefitting from human compost manure; do we have one of our own yet?

Members pose for a photograph as some of the members hold and show the human compost manure


It’s not the end of the story yet. Since transitioning to an IPC, South Mzimba is far from the end of creating one great

exemplary membership union that is productive in its innovation.

We spoke to three of the Union’s leaders; Aluf Moyo, of Elangeni Association who serves as the Union’s Board Chairperson, Gift Kamanga from Khosolo Associa-tion who serves as the Secretary for the Union and Chimwemwe Tchunguwe who is from Nkha-manga Association and is the Union’s Secretary.

Many of us surely recall the story about the business that this Union has been leading in sunflower cooking oil production. Yes, they all are still happy with the stable and guaranteed market for their sunflower produce, and they are satisfied with the cooking oil pro-duction.

Just towards the end of last year, they added two more machines to the cooking oil production factory. Together with their manager, S. Mzimba IPC sourced a donation of two more oil producing ma-chines and as of today, they are now producing over 2,000 litres of cooking oil in a week!

Their plans envision production

of soya and groundnut cooking oil. The prices for this oil pro-duce may at times be less, but it all has never stopped them. As the profits keep rising, the main problem is sourcing sunflower raw material which is now expen-sive. Last year, the IPC did not have enough money to purchase the entire sunflower produced by members of the five Associations. NASCOMEX, the partner they work with hand in hand was able to purchase the rest and put it all up for storage. Now that they have money to purchase more raw material after using up what they had in stock at the time, the buying price is proving to be expensive.

This year, they wish to have more money for purchase of enough raw materials.

At the moment, they have four shops where they now sell this cooking oil; Elangeni, Embangwe-ni, Khosolo and at Jenda trading centre.

During the brief talk with these leaders we also learnt that the Union now also has a grain bank that started last year in 2013. For the grain bank, they purchased 4.5 metric tons of beans from the members and sold this to the NASFAM Head Office. This year,

they wish to add rice to the pro-duce being put up for market from the grain bank.

All profits from this venture do not go to waste. One way or anoth-er, the union has found a way to let others in need have access to education through funds from the profits the union is making. Currently the Union pays school fees for five kids at five differ-ent Community Day Secondary Schools in Mzimba. The commu-nities find out those most needy and then the Union makes a final selection of candidates that best fit the funds.

At present, the Union is consid-ering a push for adult literacy classes, scaling up their irrigation and water and sanitation works. And of course yes, this year they exceeded their target on tree planting whereby they planted over 300 000 trees throughout the clubs and member households.

With all works in progress and all ideas put in place, S.Mzimba IPC’s progress is creating access to markets for, access to funds for investments and access to edu-cation for those without any hope for a bright future. This, all on its own is work is worth emulating in all NASFAM Associations.

MORE STORIES TO TELL FOR SOUTH MZIMBA IPC

Tchunguwe, Moyo and Kamanga


ACE and NASFAM for Collective Marketing and Structured TradeSelling collectively in an organized market can bring numerous benefits to farmers: better deals, better prices, availability of secure storage and access to finance.

This marketing season ACE and NASFAM are joining forces to facilitate aggregation points and certified storage sites for farmers to easily bulk their crops and access the warehouse receipt system. Together, ACE and NASFAM want to offer the farmers more options when it comes to marketing:

• Farmers can choose sell locally in the rural areas;

• Farmers can choose to be linked to a market in the city through the ACE trading platform;

• Farmers can bring their commodities to aggregation points where it will be trans-ported to certified storage sites. There, they can get a warehouse receipt, store safely until they choose to sell and use that warehouse receipt to obtain a back loan.

Why aggregate?

Smallholder farmers produce small volumes, and selling individually means they are often unable to negotiate over prices. Buyers tend to be willing to pay more for larger volumes and for better quality commodity. Through aggregation, individual farmers who only produce three or four bags of a product can aggregate sufficient quantities to fill up a truck and sell their produce together with other organized farmers.

Why store using the Warehouse Receipt System?

Warehouse receipts provide farmers with the opportunity to store safely, better time their sales and access finance until they decide to sell. Before the commodity is stored it must be graded. By ensuring compliance with quality standards, warehouse receipts also provide access to higher-value markets. The use of common storage facilities means different farmers actually aggregate their crop as it is deposited, providing more attractive volumes to interested buyers. A warehouse receipt can be used as collateral for any depositor to get a loan from the bank, guaranteeing access to finance at commercial rates. Farmers with an entrepreneurial inkling and small traders have the opportunity to use financing as capital investment and thus reap the benefits of trading in a larger scale. Lastly, depositors can access inputs through their warehouse receipts before the physical commodity has been sold, allowing them to engage in production activities in due time.

If I store, when do I sell?

The depositor decides when to sell and to whom. ACE will provide guidance on prevailing market prices. ACE sends SMS alerts with prices and trade opportunities to farmers who are registered for this service. The depositor is free to withdraw his commodity from storage or to sell if he finds a willing buyer as long as he settles storage costs, the loan and the interest charges.

What is ACE and how do I get in touch?

The Agricultural Commodity Exchange for Africa (ACE) is a trading platform that links buyers and sellers. ACE wants to improve agricultural marketing structures in Malawi. Since its inception ACE has worked to organize grain markets for the benefit of all players in the value chain.

All farmers need to do is link up with NASFAM staff, ACE trade agents or ACE certified brokers in their area. They can provide more information on the costs and benefits of different marketing options.

Call us if you have questions! You can contact ACE on 0998 223 223 │ 0888 399 379 │ 01 710 204 │ 01 710 304

ACE Services

In Brief

The Agricultural Commodity Exchange for Africa (ACE) is a non-profit commodity exchange platform that links farmers to markets. It works in a highly fragmented market, plagued with information and infrastructure obstacles, and endeavors to develop structured trading systems that integrate smallholders into the formal market, facilitate trade, reduce price volatility and enhance food security.

To achieve its objectives ACE activities focus on the following strategic and complementary components:

Market Information Collection and Dissemination Market information can empower farmers to make better decisions about their marketing options and can provide them with bargaining power to get better deals. For farmers, it is very important to access the right information at the right time. ACE has a network of enumerators and rural trade agents extended across key districts throughout the country. These agents have two main responsibilities: firstly, to collect weekly prices from the rural markets, and secondly, to link rural farmers and traders to markets. They are effectively ACE’s representation in the rural areas. They are well-versed in ACE’s services provided, advice their network of local farmers and traders about their marketing options, and provide a link between the key city markets and the rural offers. The trade agents also collect farmer profiles in order to sign them up to the ACE price information database. This enables farmers and traders to receive price information on their mobile phones on a weekly basis and to receive notifications of important trade opportunities. ACE uses ESOKO to consolidate the weekly price data provided by the rural trade agents and to disseminate it to farmers and traders in the form of the following three different types of ACE alerts:

- Rural Prices – Weekly text messages with rural prices for commodities and markets of the farmers and traders choice.

- Bids Best Prices – Best prices from weekly ACE contracts. ACE registers what prices the large buyers are buying and disburses an SMS with information of the best prices for the most traded commodities.

- Trade Opportunities – Information on bids, offers and upcoming BVOs—that is real trade opportunities collected from the ACE trade platform.

While trade opportunities are disseminated for free, a fee of USD 6 per year needs to covered to receive weekly rural prices.

Trade Facilitation While price information is central to the empowerment of farmers, prices alone cannot change the way agricultural marketing happens. In order to link farmer organizations to markets in a transparent and effective way, ACE believes in promoting structured trade systems that provide individuals and groups with post-harvest options and opportunities regarding their commodities. These include:

“One of the problems us farmers face is lack of capital. But with the coming of ACE we are able to get a loan using our commodity as collateral. I started as a small farmer but now I am happy to say that I have been able to grow my busi-ness using the loan and now I have about 300 MT of maize which is at an ACE certi-fied warehouse in Dowa. At the moment I am just looking for an attractive market so that I settle my loan, storage costs and take the rest home, ready for the new season.”

Michael Banda, Kafulu Farmers As-sociation in Dowa

“My name is Alice Kachere. I start-ed farming in 1997 and I then joined NASFAM in 2002. At first I had problems storing commodity at home due to lim-ited expertise on crop storage as well as capital. This season, I first made a deposit of 8.2 MT, took 70% finance and went on to buy commodity from my friends. I now have 62 MT which has recently been sold to WFP using ACE’s plat-form.”

Alice Kachere, NAS-FAM Nathenje

“I saw one of the weekly commodity prices inserts provided by ACE in The Nation newspaper early January 2014. At that time, I had 1.92 MT of soya to keep for sale at a later date. When I saw the forward contract prices I noted that I could immediately lock a good price and stop worrying about the price dropping. I contacted ACE and they advised me to deposit the commodity in a certi-fied warehouse and obtain a forward contract, which I did. The price then was MK 210/kg and the future price on my forward contract for April 15, 2014 was MK 246/kg. After storage deductions, I am happily going home with MK 235/kg.”

Aaron Mapondera

John Bonongwe, aged 51 comes from Tigonjerane Club of Liwadzi GAC in Kasinje Association,

Ntcheu. With his wife, they have five children but they live with three as the older two are al-

ready married. Since becoming a NASFAM member a year ago, he now can distinguish and note the difference on the type of farming he used to do then and that which he does now.

Throughout his life, John has only known farming as the source of income. He grew up in a strug-gling home. As for his education, he only attended his primary school up to standard 7 where he quit at the age of 19. He had

IN KASINJE, ONE NEW MEMBER SETS AN EXAMPLE FOR ALL


dreams, but his parents could not afford to pay the school fees. A little while after, he knew he had to find a way to earn an income at some point he con-templated about going to the city to find work but decided against it. After getting married later and with no education, he knew he was bound to find it tough there. That is when he started growing cotton as his cash crop.

The first time after his harvest, he earned a profit of 50 kwa-cha which was a lot of money in those days. However, when he grew the same crop in the second year, he was not as successful as he’d thought he would be. He later started grow-ing maize for home consumption and also for commercial purpos-es. The labour and cost he found to be too much. He would grow and apply fertiliser which he acquired through a loan. But this changed eventually when the loan was no longer available in later years. It seemed he could

only grow to replenish what he’d assume he lost, but never enough profits to sustain him and enable him to use to buy more inputs. He ended up planting his maize as randomly as he could and this was mainly because he was not

aware of how critical detailing and precision is when it comes to growing crops.

He had heard of NASFAM, a membership club through friends and also on radio. One year, he incidentally went to the local NASFAM office in the area to sell beans and this was when he de-cided to inquire about any exten-sion services that were available and this was initiated.

“After selling my beans, I asked about any extension services available and what I could do to acquire them. I was told to organ-ise myself and a few other friends in my village and register as a NASFAM club. This I was able to do very easily through direct help

by the Association Field Officer.,” explains John Bonongwe.

“After registering, it took no time for my club to receive visits by the Field Officer and we started re-ceiving the technical advice I had been lacking for so many years!”

Today, on a 0.7 hectares land he has grown maize, and inter-cropped groundnuts with soya and soya with pigeon peas and cow peas and the sight of his crop is and eye opener and not what most of us have never seen be-fore. The local Association Field Officers briefed him on pit farm-ing; mulching and human compost manure in order to ensure there is enough nutrients for his crop.

He could not be any happier. Even other old NASFAM mem-bers have visited his farm and in-quired about his farming methods. With determination and passion, John has made it big within his first year of becoming a member.

John Bonongwe shows his groundnut harvest


Never in a million years had she thought she would be able to provide for her children and protect them from the ills of child labour and poverty which she faced as a young girl.

Filesi Sambalupa born in 1971 grew up in Sadzola village of Mulanje District. She was the second born

child in a family of four and was raised up by their mother as a single parent. Filesi grew up in what many can consider to be a poor home. At that time, her mother worked in a tea plantation and struggled to fend for her and her siblings. Filesi was only able to attend standard 1 of her prima-ry school as her mother could not afford to pay school fees for all the children.

ONCE IN CHILD LABOUR BUT NOW MAKING IT THROUGH NASFAM MEMBERSHIP

At the age of 7, Filesi became sick and was gripped by an illness that became difficult for the local clinics near her village to diagnose. She kept having

inflammations all over her body and also lost her hair. Little did her mother know that Filesi was suffering from malnutrition, which they eventually got to learn had


come from the lack of good and nutritious food in the home. The treatment for this illness took over two years to come through and it robbed Filesi of her happy child-hood memories. Later when she felt better, she continued to stay home helping around the house and taking care of her younger siblings.

Her life has not always been easy. When she turned 14, she knew it was time to start helping out financially around the house. Filesi also began to work in the

tea estates around the District and this was the only time she was able to buy clothes and basic needs such as soap for herself.

At the ten-der age of 17, Filesi got married to a local boy from a nearby village and at this time, he was in school in standard 6 but ended up dropping out as soon as they got married as more re-sponsibilities arose after the marriage that he as the head of the house had to take care of. Since then, they have had five children together.

Throughout the years that came by,

Filesi and her husband only grew crops because it was expected and because farming was what most households in her commu-nity got to do as soon as the first rains came. Eventually she no-ticed and observed some of their friends in the village progressing in farming. After learning a thing or two she got to know that these farmers belonged to a farming club through the local NASFAM Association. This motivated her and made her decide to also try out and see what NASFAM had

to offer. She became a member in 2011. The advice and technical assistance helped in providing a fresh start for Filesi’s family and before they knew it, they were producing wide reaching benefits.

In the first year, Filesi and her husband started by growing maize through pit farming tech-nology on a half acre of land and harvested eight bags of 50 kg each whereby years before, they had been harvesting a mere basket on the same land. In the second year they grew maize and pigeon peas and harvested eight bags of 50 kg each for maize and one bag of pigeon peas on the same land through intercrop-ping. This year, they have grown pigeon peas, maize and cowpeas. All through intercropping but are sure they will harvest much from it all.

All these farming technologies were a tryout, but after the bumper harvests they are surely ready to continue adopting them. Through demonstration plots, they learnt that intercropping not only allows them to utilise land to its maximum, but these crops also assist in replenishing the soil while also helping them to be food secure in their household.

In the times that Filesi’s hus-band is not working in the field, he serves the role of an actor working in the community based organisations particularly focus-ing on civic education. It all has come as one easy realisation for Filesi, one but hard to get to. Never in a million years had she thought she would be able to provide for her children and protect them from the ills of child labour and poverty which she faced as a young girl. One way or another with her husband she strives to make it day by day and also provide for her children the things she mostly lacked back in her childhood. All thanks to her NASFAM membership.

ONCE IN CHILD LABOUR BUT NOW MAKING IT THROUGH NASFAM MEMBERSHIP


Mike Thangata and Cath-erine Mwase are proud NASFAM members. They have been members

for almost three years now. They became farmers with intention of making sure they are food secure in their household.

As for Mike, he started out farming when he was in school. During his free time, he would work on his private plot given to him by his parents. All this knowledge and ex-perience was of great benefit when he started out farming again, after getting married several years later.

Apart from the crops Mike and Catherine grow at present, they also rear a few chickens and herd five goats for food in the home. Here is a brief outline of the little information this family was able to share with the NASFAM Communi-cations team when a visit was paid to them in the just ended quarter:

Let’s start by the issue of breed-ing, how do you breed your goats?

All five goats are females and when it comes to mating, we let the female mate with one of the males in a friend’s livestock herd stead. When mating with the male, we make sure we look for a good breed, one that is strong and in good health and also research on how strong the male / breed is known to enable females produce

well in the area.

How do you feed these goats?

We feed these goats nsipu and madeya mixed with salt every day before we let them out to graze in the nearby valleys. We believe adding salt to the goat’s madeya prevents against skin diseases. Nsipu is a normal type of grass that is found during rainy season. When this grass is no longer available, we feed the goats local traditional fruits called zibalubalu which are produced by nsangu and malaina trees. We also add a little bit of a supplement to their diet by feeding them leaves from masau trees. Ev-ery hour, we make sure these goats have clean water to drink.

How do you make sure they have

a safe and clean habitat?

The goat kraal is always clean and dry at all times. We sweep at least twice every day. This kraal is main-tained every year and reconstruct-ed. We placed wood logs on the floor to avoid the goats from getting sores on their feet due to dirt on the ground. Goats naturally prefer clean environments. The kraal needs to have a raised floor when being constructed.

Do you find goat keeping a diffi-cult task?

No, not at all. It is only important to find time to care for the goats’ needs. Anyone can rear goats. They just need careful precision in order to have bumper and healthy goats in their home.

GOAT KEEPING

The happy Mike and Catherine


Prepared by Farm Services Unit

Introduction

Soya is grown in many parts of Malawi and is also known for its ben-efits of replenishing soil

fertility. Many households lack knowledge on the several ways of utilising this crop therefore they end up selling off most of it. If not carefully harvested or stored, soya may put off a bad smell but if carefully harvested, it is one legume which can be used to prepare different kinds of food for livestock and also for human con-sumption. Because many farmers spoil their soya harvest due to bad practices, NASFAM promotes good practices in harvesting and storage.

1. Soya management while in the field

1.1. Weeding

Just like many other crops, soya grows and matures properly if it is being cared for while in the field. Many farmers mistakenly reduce volumes of their harvest due to many reasons; one of them being allowing weeds to thrive. Weeds compete with planted crops for nutrients in the soil therefore it is important to remove weeds every few weeks.

1.2. Pests and diseases

Once we discover that we have pests or diseases in our soya field, let us be aware that this will decrease the volumes of our harvest. Therefore, it is important for farmers to be cautious of such developments.

Protect your soya crop by planting crops in rotation such as maize or sorghum on your land. Grow-ing varieties that are resistant to pests and diseases such as Ocepara-4 and Tikolore may also be of benefit.

2. Harvesting soya

2.1. Uprooting and drying soya

Harvesting the crop when it is mature is very essential.

This crop matures in not less than four months. The colour on leaves changes and they begin to fall off. The soya cobs begin to dry and produce a sound when in contact.

Harvest your soya when the environment is dry. If the soya crop gets wet, it changes colour and also once cooked, it produces a bad smell therefore make sure it does not get wet at any point during harvesting.

Soya may be attached by Afla-toxin, make sure you protect your soya harvest from such attaches by storing on dry cool place.

Make sure you do not over dry the soya because this may cause it to break while thrashing.

2.2. What to do after harvesting

2.2.1. Trashing

When thrashing the soya, do not hit the crop too hard because it may break. Use small sticks when thrashing your produce.

2.2.2. Grading

Grade the soya produce accord-ing to size and colour in order to have a good sell and also to allow storage for a long period. Remove all dust and unwanted particles by weaning.

2.2.3. Storage

After grading the soya produce, make sure the place that the crop is to be stored is dry and free from different pests. Make sure storage utilities, bags and baskets are clean and dry. If not carrying properly to the storage spot, soya may easily break and may also rot un predictably.

SOYA MANAGEMENT


On 20th January, 2014 NASFAM held a tree planting launch in Dowa District

at Kawere Primary School Grounds. Present at the launch was His Excellency Norwegian Ambassador to Malawi, Asbjorn Eidhammer who was the guest of honour, Gerard Grant repre-senting NASFAM CEO, a few of NASFAM’s staff members, village authorities, school teachers and students. Beyond planting of

these trees, NASFAM also put in strategies for the survival of these trees by setting up commu-nity management committees to assist in policing of such natural resources.

On this day, almost 7000, trees were planted. The Member of Parliament for the area Hon. Jean Kalirani also attended the function and she saluted NAS-FAM for partnering with her con-stituency in the continued efforts

for climate change mitigation.

“We know that it has taken a lot of resources for the organisation to come up with the seedlings planted today, we do not take this for granted. We hope the organ-isation will continue to consider our communities every now and then,” explained Hon. Jean Kali-rani during a brief interview.

This is just one of the many tree planting activities that have been

WHERE ELSE DID NASFAM PLANT TREES THIS YEAR?

1

NASFAM also put in strategies for the survival of these trees by setting up community management committees to assist in policing of such natural resources


conducted by NASFAM Associa-tions this year.

On the same note, Mayaka Com-munity Day Secondary School in Zomba through its organised a group known as Action for Natural Medicine (ANaMed) has also joined in the fight against climate change and promotion of medicine from trees. NAS-FAM through its Ngwerelo office provided them with tree seeds and polythene tubes which they

planted later in January.

The students learnt that with Mo-ringa Tree, a number of ailments can be cured, so they decided to come up with a club that will be learning more on how they can treat people naturally.

“The coming in of NASFAM will enable us come up with a wood-lot that will not only lessen the impact of climate change, but also assist in reducing the con-gestion that is found in hospitals,

because some diseases will be treated right here at home, explained the patron of the club, teacher Ceaser Frank Kapalam-ula.

This year, it is estimated that a total of 3.5 million trees were planted throughout NASFAM’s Associations, GACs and existing Clubs.

The future belongs to the organ-ised!

1. Gerard Grant (centre), plants a tree on behalf of NAS-FAM CEO

2. Norwegian Ambassador, NASFAM Board Chair and a pupil water a tree after planting

3. ICRISAT Director Dr. Pat-rick Okori plants a tree at Kawere Primary School Grounds

4. Kawere primary School pupils plant trees

2 3

4


14 January - March 201414 MLBP ADVERTORIAL

MAKING A FORTUNE FROM HONEY BUSINESS

By Vincent Nhlema

Johanisi Banda of Salima diStrict iS one Such perSon who iS proud

to have preServed a foreSt in hiS area when moSt people are BuSy cutting down treeS and Selling them aS wood or charcoal. he ownS a foreSt meaSuring 140 By 360 meterS. he iS proud of the foreSt BecauSe it haS Brought him a lot of BenefitS than he anticipated. the foreSt iS now giving him caSh without cutting down any tree BecauSe it haS Become an ideal place for Bee keeping.

Johanisi has 34 beehives. He has been in beekeeping for the past 18 years but it was in 2009 when he treated the beekeeping as a viable business. In 2009, Malawi Lake Basin program came to his area and introduced him to honey business. Previously, the honey was for consumption for his household and if he could sell, was simply to get rid of it not neces-sarily for business.

Since 2009, his story has changed as he now leads a group of beekeepers and teaches them to manage it as a viable business. Today Johanisi is able to realise MK200, 000 from honey alone because he takes it as business.

“I must say, beekeeping is a profitable busi-ness because it what has sustained me for the past three years. I am not used to cultivating crops as such I have been earning my living through honey. What I get from the honey busi-ness, is what I use to buy food for the house-

hold”, said Johani-si.

Johanisi has not achieved this so easily. He has had to make some investment into the business such as buying modern beehives termed as Langstrothe. These beehives are ideal for increased honey production as each chamber can accommodate 10 litres of honey making it more profitable compared to the tra-ditional beehives. They have compartments for the bees to gather honey and compartments for reproduction. This ensures that one is able to get high quality and abundant honey when harvesting. The compartments also make it easy to harvest honey as one simply pulls out the frames filled with honey and replace them after taking out the honey. This ensures that you don’t lose out as well as achieving quality.

These bee hives however, cost in the ranges of MK20,000 and above in Salima district but it is worth it looking at the income they bring.

14 MLBP ADVERTORIAL


By Vincent Nhlema









KUPEZA PHINDU KUCHOKERA MU ULIMI WA NJUCHI

Wolemba Vincent Nhlema

BAMBO JOHANISI BANDA AMACHOKERA KU BOMA LA SALIMA NDIPO IWO NDI

MMODZI WA ANTHU OMWE ALI NDI CHIMWEMWE PAKUTI ANASAMALA NDI KUSUNGA NKHALANGO MDERA LAWO NTHAWI IMENE ANTHU AMBIRI ANALI KALIKILIKI KUDULA MITENGO NDI KUOTCHA MAKALA. IWO NKHALANGO YAWO YA MITENGO NDIYOKULA MAMITA 140 KWA 360. IWO AMASANGALALA NDI NKHALANGO YAWOYI CHIFUKWA IMAWABWELETSERA PHINDU LOCHULUKA KU-POSA UMO MENE ANKAYEMBEKEZELA. NKHALANGOYI TSOPANO IKUWAPINDULIRA POPANDA KAMBA KA ULIMI WOSUNGA NJUCHI.

Bambo Johanisi ali ndi zisa 34 za njuchi ndipo akhala akuchita ulimi wa njuchi kwa zaka 18 zapitazi koma kuyambila mchaka cha 2009 ndi pamene anayamba kuwelengela ulimi umenewu ngati bizinesi. Mchaka cha 2009, a Malawi Lake Basin anadza mdera la bambo Johanisi ndikuwadziwitsa za ulimi wa njuchi umenewu. Asanawuzidwe zimenezi bambowa anali akun-gowelengela uchi wopangidwa ndi njuchizi ngati chakudya cha pakhomo pokha basi ndipo amati akati agulitse, amangogulitsa pofuna kuchepetsa kuchuluka kwake pa nthawi yomwe amakhala kuti akolola uchi wambiri.

Lero, bambo Johanisi amatsogolera gulu la alimi ena anjuchi ndi kuwaphunzitsa mene angazisa-malire ngati bizinesi. Pa chaka, bambo Johanisi amapeza MK200,000 kuchokera ulimiwu.

“Ndikufuna ndivomeleze kuti ulimi wa njuchi ndi bizinesi ya phindu chifukwa ulimiwu wandipinduli-ra zaka zitatu zapitazi. Sindinazolowele kulima mbewu ndipo ndakhala ndikupeza chuma pakho-mo panga kudzera mu ulimi umenewu. Phindu

lom-we ndi-mapeza mu ulimi-wu ndimag-wiritsa ntchito pogulira chakudya ndi zina zofunika pakhomo panga,” anatero bambo Johanisi.

Phindu lonseli silinapezeke palokha ayi koma anafunika kuyikiza khobidi lina kugulila mng’oma zina zamakono zomwe zimatchedwa Langstrone. Ming’oma yimeneyi ndi yabwino chifukwa yimalo-la njuchi kuti zikhazikitse zisa zokwanira uchi wo-chukula malita khumi (10) zomwe zimachulutsa phindu kuposa ming’oma yakale. Ming’oma ime-neyi imalola kuti njuchi zipange uchi wochuluka ndikutinso zibelekane mokwanila. Izi zimathan-diza kuti mlimi apeze phindu lokwanira pamene akukolola uchi wapamwamba. Ming’omayi ima-lolanso kuti mlimi asavutike nthawi yokolola uchi ikafi ka pamene amangotukula thabwa, kusolola zisa kenako kubwezeletsa mu mng’oma yake.

Ming’oma yimeneyi imapezeka pa mtengo wa MK 20,000 kapena kuposa pamenepa mu mzinda wa

Salima koma ndalama imeneyi ndiyochepa malingana ndi phin-

du lake. Bambo Johanisi ali ndi ming’oma imeneyi 6 yomwe yina ndi

yopangidwa mwachimalawi. Mtso-golo muno, iwo akufuna azakhale ndi

ming’oma ya langstrone pofuna kuzapitili-za kuchulutsa uchi womwe amakolola.

Kulimbikila komwe bambo Johanisi awonetsa kwapangitsanso alimi ena omwe amaweta nju-chi amene amalumikizana kudzera m’bungwe la ADRA kuti akonze ulendo wokawayendera ndi kutola nawo phunziro pa ulimi umenewu.

Kwa alendowa, bambo Johanisi anafotokoza nati, “choyamba, ndikofunika kuti munthu ukhale ndi malo okwanira omwe ungayike ming’oma yako. Nkhalango ndiyo yoyenera poti yimakopa njuchi zonse mwachilengedwe. Ndizofunika kuti tonse tisamale chilengedwe chathu kuti zitithandize ku-tukuka mu bizinesi yathu yoweta njuchi. Mitengo yathu tikuyenera kuyisamala ndi kuyiteteza ku zin-thu zowononga monga ngati moto wolusa womwe ungaononge ming’oma yathu.”

Iwo anakamba kuti a Malawi Lake Basin amawathandiza kupeza misika ndipo pakali pano, uchi womwe akukolola sukumakwana pa msika. Sabata imodzi, iwo amakolola uchi ka khumi kweni

kweni miyezi ya Meyi, Juni, Julayi, Novembala ndi Disembala. Mu miyezi imeneyi, mng’oma umodzi umakololedwa kawiri pa mwezi umodzi pakapita masiku 15 aliwonse.

Pochita ulimi wa njuchi, ndi bwino kumayang’anira nkhalango kawirikawiri ndi kumalembelanso kusin-tha kulikonse. Izi zimawathandiza kuti asasem-phane ndi nthawi yokolola pakuti izi zimakhudzan-so malonda awo.

Alangizi ochokela ku Malawi lake Basin m’boma la Salima, a Blandina Nkhoma anavomeleza ndi zomwe anakamba bambo Johanisi zokhudza malonda awo kusakwana pa nsika. Iwo anakam-ba kuti pakali pano, akugwira ntchito ndi alimi anjuchi 149 mu EPA ya Tembwe.

“Msika wa uchi ulipo kale ndipo alimi anjuchi omwe alipo pakali pano akukanika kupeleka uchi wokwanira pa msikawu. Tikuyesetsa kulimbikitsa ulimiwu makamaka pa nkhani yochulutsa uchi womwe alimiwa akukolola. Tikufuna kuti mlimi aliyense akhale ndi ming’oma kuti tizitha kukolola malita 8,000 auchi kusiyana ndi malita 848 omwe anakololedwa chaka chatha. Pa msika, pamafu-nika malita 200 sabata lilonse ndipo malita 800 tinakolola chaka chatha ndi ochepa kuyerekeza ndi omwe amafunika chaka chonse,” anatero Blandina.

15MLBP ADVERTORIAL

Johanisi has only managed to acquire 6 of these so far with a

majority of the bee hives he has being the Malawi Standard. With

the passage of time, he wants to have Langstrothe only to ensure in-

creased production and income.

The commitment Johanisi has shown attract-ed the attention of other beekeepers operating under Adventist Development Relief Agency (ADRA) to organise a field trip and learn from him.

Johanisi said to the visitors that, “It starts with having an ideal place where you will hang your beehives. The forest is the most ideal as it pro-vides the natural setting. This therefore means we need to preserve forests to help us achieve beekeeping business. The forest also needs to be well protected from fires as any fires will destroy the beehives and that will be a great loss.”

According to Johanisi, Malawi Lake Basin Program, helps them identify the market and at the moment are failing to meet demand. He harvests the honey 10 times a year, in May, June, July, November and December. In these

months, each beehive is harvested twice a month with a spacing of 15 days.

Frequent supervision is key in beekeeping. Johanisi supervises his beehives atleast twice a week and recording observations on each la-belled beehive. This ensures he does not lose out on the right time of harvesting the honey as any delay can be costly.

The Field Officer for Malawi Lake Basin Pro-gram in Salima, Blandina Nkhoma echoed on the sentiments echoed by Johanisi that the district is failing to meet the demand for honey. Acoording to Blandina, the program is working with 149 beekeepers in Tembwe EPA.

“There is a ready available market for honey and farmers are unable to meet the demand. Currently we are working on increasing produc-tion. We want each beekeeper to have at least 10 beehives so that we can produce a mini-mum of 8000 litres of honey as opposed to 848 litres achieved last year. The buyer is looking for 200 litres every week and the 800 litres we achieved last year is just a drop on the market for the whole year “, said Blandina.

14 MLBP ADVERTORIAL


By Vincent Nhlema









14 MLBP ADVERTORIAL


By Vincent Nhlema






























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14 MLBP ADVERTORIAL


By Vincent Nhlema









15January - March 201414 MLBP ADVERTORIAL


By Vincent Nhlema









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By Vincent Nhlema






























15MLBP ADVERTORIAL












14 MLBP ADVERTORIAL


By Vincent Nhlema









One of the Langstrothe beehive Johanisi has

It is a fact that the farming sea-son for tobacco starts with a hoe, tilling the ground, making it ready, exposing pests and

diseases well in advance so that they should die. And after a good period of time, beds are made according to the amount of seed one wants to sow; later, it is a watering cane that is involved, for a period of not less than three months. And with time, these canes are worn out, leak and become difficult to handle but still they serve the purpose up to the time the rains come. This is the time we give them a break, and concentrate on transplanting our crop.

Yes the crop is now natural-ly watered, and the watering cane is used for water storage or as a water heater in the

household. When pumpkins are ready they become pots for boiling these pumpkins and or green maize. Still they do not remain the same way we left them after watering our tobac-co seedlings.

Most of the farmers do not remember to purchase new canes. This is sometimes forgotten. You realise that they are of paramount importance when the sowing season is at hand. By then you have no money, you force the worn out equipment to labour for another cash of the following season.

We urge you to remember to purchase new watering

canes, or take those old ones to tinsmiths in your commu-nities for repairs after selling your tobacco crop this sea-son. Remember that you are supposed to take care of the hand that feeds you. You can’t ignore this. A watering cane is a very important tool when growing all crops. Likewise other farm implements such as hoes, oxcarts, bailing jacks etc serve greatly in our activi-ties. You should spend some time checking on them after the marketing season when you have money, to see if they need repairs, or replacements. This will make your farming business easier. Wishing you a very good marketing season

MAINTAINING OUR WATERING CANESBy Andrew Mahiyu

Watering canes at a tinsmith’s


REFLECTIONS ON POLICY ENVIRONMENT & ITS IMPLICATIONS TO SMALLHOLDER FARMERS

Once again I am great-ly privileged to share with you some critical policy developments

that have happened in our busi-ness environment in the past six months. I am sure by now you may have understanding on how policy affects our farming busi-ness. I will be sharing with you some of the things that occurred from October - March 2014, and what we should expect in the months coming ahead of us. The assessment of the past six months revealed some notable policy developments that hold huge implications on our farming business.

In the first place, we all know by now that Malawi will be going to the polls on 20th May 2014. In this regard, we have seen political parties crisscrossing the country telling us to vote for them. The process to and the results of the elections thereafter have implications on our farming business. First, the electoral process is always emotive because sometimes campaigning and the outcome of elections may result into unintended consequences such violence. No business including farming can thrive in the absence of peace. On the other hand, the electoral process provides the farmers with a rare opportunity to elect leaders that will promote smallholder farmers and their farming business. It is therefore the responsibility of NASFAM members to ensure that wherever and whenever they are participating in the

and the farming business as well. Usually, donor support is based on conditions such as good governance, fiscal discipline, and respect for human rights among other factors. However, in the past six months to date, donors still withhold their support because of the infamous cash-gate corruption issue. Continued withholding of 30% budgetary support has had a lot of implications to the NASFAM members and the smallholder farmers in general. For instance, most farmer centred programmes like the Agriculture Sector Wide Approach largely depends on donor support, and most agricultural programmes have either slowed down or halted altogether. This development is detrimental to agricultural development in the country. Government ought to act decisively on the cash gate issue!

Furthermore, high cost of farm inputs was another challenge that affected many farmers across the country including NASFAM members. Generally, inputs were costly

due to high inflation rate which was on average 24% in the period under assessment. I know someone may ask: “what is inflation rate?” Well economists define it as an upward movement in the average level of prices of commodities such as fertilizer, maize, sugar, salt, transport, fuel. The issue of high inflation rate was topical in the past six months and it continues to be so because the inflation rate being above 24% is still high, and actually some reports indicate that Malawi is one of the countries in the SADC region with high inflation rate. The implications of high inflation on the smallholder farmers are huge. Firstly, it raises costs of production through increased material input costs. Secondly, higher production costs lead farmers to take recourse to more

electoral process, they remain ambassadors of peace, and that they decide, choose and vote wisely!

Secondly, withdrawal of donor support towards the national budget is another key development that has affected our economy

By John Chipeta


others got loans for inputs when the $1 was around MK450! For sure floating the exchange rate does not work for the farmer.

NASFAM shares this concern with its members and as a voice of the smallholder farmers, it will engage authorities to intervene on the exchange regime rate because according to the floatation policy, authorities such as Reserve Bank may limit exchange fluctuations. In this regard, fixing an exchange rate during the marketing season may hedge risks posed by a fluctuating exchange rate. Prof. Kalua also suggests that government can protect farmers by controlling availability of forex on the market.

In addition NASFAM calls upon government to put sustainable policy measures to ensure that inflation, exchange and interest rates remain at manageable levels. On the same note, government should deal with the cash gate issue decisively in order to ensure speedy resumption of donor support towards the national budget.

In the final analysis, it is clear that the past six months our policy environment was a mixed bag. In view of this, it is very tricky to predict how the policy terrain will be in the next months especially because the outcome of the elections is very unpredictable. On the same note, the elections coincide with the marketing season which may or may not affect market dynamics depending on the conduct of Malawians after the elections. Therefore in view of these uncertainties, I would, like to advise the farmers to do the following:

ensure that we embrace collective marketing and warehouse receipt system which apart from helping accessing better markets would also help mitigate risks associated with market disruptions

ensure that prior, during and after elections they continue upholding to responsible and peaceful conduct

Finally, let me advise all NASFAM members and all smallholder farmers at large that the best time to buy the inputs is NOW! Thus soon after selling their agricultural commodities whilst they still have some money but also the rate of inflation has slowed down. I am wishing you a successful and peaceful tripartite election, and a happy agricultural marketing season.

credit, especially non-institutional credit for their farm operations which ultimately leads farmers into a debt-trap. Therefore it is unlikely that farmers would make the expected profits from their investment.

However, since the opening of the tobacco marketing season in March 2014, Reserve Bank of Malawi reported that “inflation is expected to begin to go down as a result of the expected seasonal appreciation of the Kwacha and improvements in the food supply situation.” What it means is that the Kwacha will gain some strength because there is high supply of food which will reduce pressure on it but also tobacco brings in dollars which eventually contributes towards the strengthening of the kwacha.

However, the appreciation of Malawi kwacha could be good news to the authorities but certainly it may not be good news to tobacco farmers and other farmers in general. This is the case because the government adopted floating exchange rate policy measure to deal with the economic crises especially the fuel shortages. The policy implies, for example, that the Malawi Kwacha will no longer be fixed but rather let it its strength against other currencies be determined by the market forces. However, the reality is that our Malawi Kwacha is generally less competitive on the market. This policy puts the small and medium enterprises including the smallholder farming business at a disadvantage especially at marketing season where farmers expect to get returns from their labour. This is the case because at the time farmers were buying inputs the exchange rate was $1 =MK450. However, as result of the appreciation of Kwacha due to dollar proceeds from tobacco, the Malawi kwacha is now selling MK380 to a dollar, and some projections show that the exchange may go to around MK350! Whilst this development has some positive implication on inflation and economy as a whole, it however does not work well for the farmer. Prof. Ben Kalua,(economist) was quoted in the Weekend Nation, 19th April 2014 sending this warning to government: “unless interventions are made by authorities to stop the Kwacha from trading as low as MK300 to a dollar in the near future, tobacco farmers as well as those growing other crops such as tea and cotton stand to lose out” What this means is that farmers will be losing out some money because for example they bought inputs or


On 10th February, 2014 Malawian implementing partners of the

Strengthening Agricultural Input and Output Markets in Africa (SAIOMA) which is a consortium led initiative funded through Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) was officially launched at Capital Hotel in Lilongwe. NASFAM and the other consortium partners Agricultural Commodity Exchange (ACE), Farmer Union of Malawi (FUM) and Rural Market Development Trust (RUMARK) teamed up to address smallholder farmers constrains which include inaccessibility to, and use of improved seeds and soil fertility-enhancing inputs and inaccessibility to profitable output markets.

SAIOMA is a Global Development Alliance between the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs with a mission of promoting inclusive agricultural growth in Kenya, Malawi and Zambia.

Present at the launch, were USAID delegates, head staff members of the four consortiums and the Director for the market access programme Anne Babu, AGRA delegates and members of the press.

Speaking in a brief interview, Mr. Dyborn Chibonga the Chief Executive Officer for NASFAM

praised the development of this project and the good benefits that NASFAM members are to gain from it.

“In strengthening agricultural inputs and markets, our members should expect to find a winning situation in their agricultural value chains and also, they will gain fair profits from their produce after the sale,” he explained.

“NASFAM will strengthen smallholder collective marketing through produce aggregation and postharvest loss and quality management all in line with the objectives of this project.”

The overall goal of SAIOMA is to improve inclusive agriculture sector growth for sustainable reduction in poverty and hunger. The goal will be achieved through the three objectives, namely: to improve smallholder market-led

agricultural production;

to enhance smallholder farmers’

access to structured markets and to strengthen institutional, managerial and technical capacities of farmer organizations.

SAIOMA will be implemented in six districts of Balaka, Machinga, Mangochi, Zomba, Mulanje and Phalombe targeting women and men smallholder farmers with access to land and agro-dealers. Its main focus will be maize, soya bean and groundnuts value chains. In each district, the project will target at least 3,300 smallholder farmers organized into 10 clusters. Each cluster will comprise of 330 farmers. Each cluster will be composed of about 13 clubs with a membership of 25 farmers.

This project started in November, 2013 and will be stretching over duration of 30 months.

NASFAM STRENGTHENING AGRICULTURAL INPUT AND OUTPUT MARKET LINKAGES


Many farmers in this nation struggle with hunger every year due to in adequate

knowledge on the right ways to preserve their food such as the following;

● Harvest your food at the right time to avoid getting all the produce spoilt. Harvesting in good time not only prevents your crop from getting spoilt but it also prevents from attaché by any pests and diseases, accidental fire, thieves or any unforeseeable disasters.

● Protect your harvest from disease or pests by following good practices

● Prepare and preserve enough mfutso from all food groups to consume later in the year and also to save money

●● Add more to the stock of the food you preserve from the carbohydrate food

group and the fruits food group and in this way, when chances arise you shall have enough filling food for the entire family.

●● Preserve enough food for the whole year according to the size of your family and also according to the extent of your need throughout that particular year.

●● When preparing food, prepare according to the number of people that are to consume that food. If you happen to have any leftovers, store accordingly so that it is all eaten at a later time.

●● Avoid using your produce in big cultural celebrations or use in exchange of any goods or to be used to pay back any loans

●● Begin winter cropping and also irrigation farming

before the valleys you may have nearby become dry in order to harvest enough before the soil becomes completely dry

●● Try to have livestock in your household so that this adds to a balanced and healthy diet in your home and have enough money during other times when some of this livestock is sold

Always remember that having a healthy and balanced meal is the beginning of healthy living and also the beginning of productivity in our daily works.

BECOME FOOD SECURE IN YOUR HOUSEHOLD ALL YEAR ROUND

Mfutso from the meat food group Prepare food according to the number of people intended for

Always remember that having a healthy and balanced meal is the beginning of healthy living and also the beginning of productivity in our daily works.


nasfam titukulane magazine

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