The equation T - FP = TWF is nowhere near Mathematics. Not even in C.V. Durell, that Mathematics book which every Mathematics genius wants to flip its pages.
But this equation, Today (T) minus Food Processing (FP) equals Tomorrow Without Food (TWF), is everywhere. And everybody – Mathematician or not – in hills or valleys, can bear testimony to it. If you said you cannot, read this.
At Bvumbwe market, a few kilometres off the eastern outskirts of Blantyre City, along the Thyolo road, there are times when the hustle and bustle that dictates matters there is about fruits and vegetables. And, Blantyre’s townships quench their thirst for good pineapples and cabbage there without any problems.
Yet, there are times when Bvumbwe – known for its riches in avocado pears, pineapples, Irish potatoes, tomatoes and many kinds of leaf vegetables – cannot quench even its own thirst for these produce.
“If you want to buy pineapples here, then you have to come between November and February. You will have completely no chance of finding the produce here after May every year.
“As for avocado pears, you should come here between December and June. You may have a slim chance of finding them up to July. Otherwise, in between there is no chance of finding such produce here,” says Clement Banda of the Bvumbwe Vegetable Growers Association.
Problems of gaps in the availability of food are not confined to only one area. This is a national issue, and, in most cases, it goes beyond borders.
For the past three years, Malawi has been registering surpluses in maize production. Yet, like Bvumbwe pineapples that rise and sink like the sun, continued maize availability in the country is something nobody would guarantee.
Only a few months ago, Malawi’s success story of achieving surplus maize harvests was talk of the town. The United Nations (UN) has more than once urged developing nations that suffer perpetual food shortage to adopt Malawi’s technique in dealing with the problem.
Yet, the so-highly-rated Malawi is itself suffering effects of food shortage. Phalombe, Chiradzulu, Balaka, Thyolo and Chikwawa have been highlighted as among a number of districts where food inavailability has taken its toll. But how can a nation that created so much impression in food production be generating stories of food shortage?
“Whenever there is a void in food processing, we will always be talking of this and that food as seasonal,” says Banda. “Otherwise, with food processing there is a guarantee that there will be food today and tomorrow and people won’t be waiting for a season to get a particular food.”
He says that processed food beats time as it is easy to store. As such he and a group of fellow farmers have set up the Bvumbwe Vegetable Growers’ Association, which, apart from growing, processes a wide-range of leaf vegetables which they store and sell later to supermarkets in Blantyre.
He adds: “Most of our leaf vegetables are processed by drying and they are later packaged. With this process, there is no talk of losses in terms of damages or selling at a cheaper price for fear of encountering these damages.”
Tomatoes are processed into sauce; however, the process is not that developed because of shortage of machinery and skill. Otherwise, with support from the One Village One Product (Ovop) we expect a processing factory to take off soon as it is already being built.”
Realising the benefits of food processing, the Story Workshop – with support from the European Union (EU) – has embarked on a campaign to ensure that food processing activities close to the producer, like the one by the Bvumbwe Vegetable Growers’ Association, are done across the country.
Under this programme, Story Workshop seeks to encourage individuals to come together and start simple food processing activities at village level. This is aimed at ensuring that there is continued availability of and value addition to what these villagers produce. As such, they can guarantee food security and more returns on their products.
“Higher food prices ideally benefit the farmers producing the food. Most farmers in Malawi sell the products of the harvest right away since storage is a problem in many areas,” says the Story Workshop in its programme briefing paper.
With the country basking in so many agricultural activities, analysts say there are equally so many food processing activities in which individual groups can indulge themselves.
Charles Kazembe, Malawi Entrepreneurship Development Institute (MEDI) Executive Director, says individuals should just express interest and his institution will show them where to go.
“Everything that is grown has capacity to be processed and stored,” says Kazembe. “Unfortunately, about 80 percent of what is grown in Malawi is wasted because there is no processing, which leads to easy storage. Yet the procedure is simple: once you start with what you know, everything follows.”
Currently, MEDI is known mostly for teaching people how to process cassava into flour. But Kazembe says the organisation has gone far beyond that.
He says, for instance, recently the organisation started processing sumu, which is largely onions mixed with tomatoes and with chillies and vinegar added to the mixture as preservatives.
“There are so many food processing activities which groups of individuals can embark on. MEDI is ready to facilitate the process of imparting skills; however, willingness and real interest is very important,” he says.
Unfortunately, there is little activity on food processing in the country. Oil extraction from sunflowers and juice manufacturing are done on a smaller scale. Only fish drying, cassava processing and vegetable drying in the homes are done to a larger extent.
In Banda’s words, the absence of such food processing activities is what has led to having food only today and none tomorrow. This is why pineapples are seasonal, he says.
MEDI Executive Director Kazembe says failure to exploit potential in these food processing activities is a result of a negative perception of the process. Nevertheless, he says, there is a lot of value added to food during processing and one has nothing to lose. The foods are grown locally, he says.
According to Ovop National Coordinator Kamia Kaluma Sulumba, a change in the negative perception to food processing can be facilitated by the affected individuals themselves. She says they can form groups and later enjoy every benefit coming from Ovop.
“When they form groups, they can become Ovop members and once they are members all the benefits will be trickling down to them,” she says. “We look at what individual groups need and identify who can impart on them the skills they miss. When they come up with the products, we work with them to come up with marketing strategies that include organising trade fairs.”
She adds that Ovop has an antennae shop in Lilongwe where all its members showcase the products they make.
Tomorrow will remain without food if the Story Workshop programme is not heeded and today continues without food processing. Otherwise, if groups like Banda’s form across the country, utilise Ovop services and acquire skills at MEDI, nobody will tell when it is a pineapple season and when it is not.
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