Malawi is a landlocked country without gold and oil – two minerals that have proven to be wealth earners wherever they exist. As such, the majority of the population is poor. But, as KAREN MSISKA asks, can’t the country’s soil be its gold and oil?
From the highest point of Misuku Hills in Chitipa on the northern tip of Malawi to the lowest point of the Shire Valley in Nsanje lying on the southern tip of the country, Malawi’s soil has capacity to give life to more than one crop that would change one’s life through generating income.
Yet, Robson Watayachanga, a 30-year-old villager at Munonono in Rumphi, will tell you that he was born with poverty, lives with poverty and will die with it.
“We have been told more than once that Malawi has no gold, oil or a port that can bring about riches for us. So we were born this way, live this way and – unless God suddenly drops a miracle – we expect to die this way,” he says.
Such a mentality is not only in Robson’s head. It is a common problem amongst a number of Malawians. In the run up to the 2004 general elections, then a presidential candidate, President Bingu wa Mutharika used the least time allocated for him to ‘greet’ those who gathered for rallies to confess this when he said that Malawians are the ones that are poor, not Malawi.
Mutharika has since tried to change the mentality by encouraging people to think critically and adopt initiatives that could enrich them. Through such attempts to end poverty, Mutharika has since changed fortunes for tobacco farmers in the country.
For the first time in recent history, the country’s tobacco industry raked in a whopping K75 billion, which translates to about 33 percent of the 2008/2009 initial national budget pegged at K229 billion.
Considering the fact that tobacco grows in the soils of mainly the central region and that other soils elsewhere across the country support crops that can also rake in money for the country, the question ‘can’t Malawi’s soil be its gold and oil?’ begs.
“Absolutely,” said Clement Thindwa, Chief Executive Officer for the Tea Planters Association of Malawi, in an interview. “Land as one of the factors of production can be used to generate a lot of wealth.”
He says, however, that the mentality that land is for traditional use only should change.
“We should harness our land, adding value to it. We have tended to be very traditional when handling land issues, as such we need to change our thinking and look at innovations that would bring high value out of low volume of land,” he says.
Tea, grown mostly in Thyolo and Mulanje districts and on a lower scale in Nkhata Bay, is the second highest income earner for the country. Thindwa said the crop fetches about K5 billion yearly, but there is enormous room for improvement.
He said, currently, there is an export void between June and July because growers mostly rely on rain.
“We need to exploit irrigation as well so that we produce the crop all year round. There is a lot of demand for tea internationally because the plant has more than just one use. Most products including T-shirts have the flavour of tea,” he says.
“Domestic consumption of tea should also improve because only 3 percent of the tea grown in the country is consumed locally. The rest is consumed outside the country. So the question is why don’t we drink our tea?”
Thindwa adds that the association is also looking at means of making its marketing strategy aggressive so that there are more buyers at the tea auction floors, just as has been the case with tobacco this year.
Coffee Association of Malawi (Camal) Technical and Marketing Executive Officer, Peter Njikho, concurred with Thindwa, saying if fully exploited, coffee growing would make people realize that their soil is as good as gold and oil elsewhere.
He says: “If the coffee industry is revived and invigorated, more returns would be realized. There are a number of areas where coffee was grown on a large scale in the past but are no longer growing the crop.”
Currently, most of the coffee is grown in Misuku Hills in Chitipa, Phoka Hills and Mphompha in Rumphi, and in some estates in the southern region. Njikho says Mwera and Ntchisi Hills in the central region are fertile for the crop but people there have turned to growing tobacco thereby abusing the potential.
“The crop is just growing like natural bush there now, but if we came back and revived business of growing the plant we can make effective use of the soil. Otherwise people in the areas are just forcing themselves on growing tobacco,” says Njikho, adding that some hills in Dedza and Ntcheu are also ideal for the crop.
He said current statistics indicate that coffee sells at $2.50 (about K350) per kilogramme on the export market. This translates to between K700 million and K850 million yearly as the country realizes between 2,000 and 2,500 metric tons of the bean annually. (1 metric ton equals 1,000 kg).
Njikho says the industry could realize a windfall if all that amount were consumed locally as statistics show that the crop sells at $12 (about K1,680) on the local market. This translates to between K3.36 billion and K4.2 billion annually.
“We need to produce more because we drastically fall short of demand for Malawian coffee on the international market. Otherwise, we should also change our belief that coffee is for the whites and start consuming the produce,” he says. According to Njikho, only 3 percent of coffee is currently consumed locally.
“We are on a marketing drive to equip most hotel operators on how to prepare coffee because when asked why they don’t serve Malawian coffee, there answers have been that they don’t know how to prepare it,” he adds.
Tobacco, coffee and tea are just some of the cash crops that the country’s soils give life to. Lakeshore districts and the Lower Shire have areas that are capable of growing cotton on a larger scale. With a boom in the textile industry in the United States and China, the crop could fetch a windfall for the country in general and farmers in particular when supplied with great quality, say analysts.
Another crop that can generate reasonable amounts of cash for farmers and the country is Paprika. The crop is widely used to flavour and spice up foods. And with global food prices rising by day, maize is gradually becoming another crop that could bring in cash.
So far, indicators are that the country’s soil is enough gold and oil. But, according to Harrison Kalua, president of the Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI), the mentality of people like Robson Watayachanga has to be changed first.
“If you convince yourself that you are poor, you will be poor but if your thinking is different you can turn the situation around. We need to change the mentality in most of our people. You can see, in the village people feel happy where they are even when you note that there are problems there,” says Kalua.
“Take the instance of Japan. It has no minerals whatsoever, but it has a people that can think and create wealth for themselves and the country is rich. Let us teach our people to think. Let us educate them.”
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