Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Soil: Can it be Malawi’s cash cow?

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.”

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Today minus food processing is tomorrow without food

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.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Who is your role model?

WHO IS YOUR ROLE MODEL?

Try it without looking at the answers..... .

1) Pick your favorite number between 1-9

2) Multiply by 3 then

3) Add 3, then again Multiply by 3 (I'll wait while you get the calculator.. ..)

4) You'll get a 2 or 3 digit number….

5) Add the digits together

Now Scroll down ............ ..



Now with that number see who your ROLE MODEL is from the list below:

1. Robert Einstein

2. Nelson Mandela

3. Jerry Springer

4. Barack Obama

5. Bill Gates

6. Mahatma Gandhi

7. Tony Blair

8. Eddie Murphy

9. Karen Iron Msiska (Me)

10. Abraham Lincoln

I know I just have that effect on people. That is why in 2019 I am contesting as Member of Parliament (MP) for Rumphi North and in 2024 I am contesting as President of the Republic of Malawi.

Iron Woyeeeeee!!!!!!!!!