After a long time of toiling in their rice fields only to realise miserable and less quality rice yields, some rice farmers at the Hara rice scheme in Karonga are breathing a new lease of life thanks to certified rice varieties they are growing.
The rice varieties are multiplied by some selected farmers in the area with the help of the International Crop Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat) and sold to the farmers around Karonga and in other areas for growing.
“The returns realised after using the certified rice varieties are unimaginable,” said Alick Msuku, Secretary for the Chigomezgo club, one of the certified rice growers, during a field day held in the area on Friday.
“When we plant 3kg of the certified PUSA 33 rice seeds we realise between 12 and 15 bags of rice each weighing 50kg. This means that the 3kg give us between 600 and 750kg.”
Icrisat started implementing the seed multiplication programme under the Malawi Seed Industry Development Project with funding from the Irish government after continued complaints against pollution of the romantic Kilombero rice with other varieties.
Since the implementation of the project started, groups of farmers have multiplied the certified seeds which are later sold to farmers helping them realise quality and bumper rice harvests in the wake of changing weather patterns.
“When we plant the Kilombero variety, we realise between 10 and 12 bags of rice each weighing 50kgs. This means that the same 3kg give us between 500 and 600kg of rice,” added Msuku.
“This was hard to realise the time we used part of the rice we harvested as seeds for the next growing season. The maximum we could go to was only five bags each weighing 50kg.”
He added that those multiplying the seeds are advised to leave 5-metre wide breaks between the gardens on which the multiplied rice varieties are grown and those on which the other varieties, mainly for consumption, are grown.
This, added Msuku, prevents pollen grains from the other varieties fertilising the certified rice thereby defeating the idea of coming up with a pure crop at the end of the project.
“We are very serious about it and we always certify that the multiplied seeds are not contaminated or mixed with the other varieties before we start distributing,” said Felix Sichali, Icrisat Project Manager, in an interview after the field day.
“Customers across the country have been complaining that they don’t get the real Kilombero rice these days and what they get is a mixture of different rice varieties at a high price charged on pure Kilombero rice.”
He warned farmers from being carried away by vendors who often buy the rice in buckets stressing that the farmers lose. He said since the harvest from the certified seeds is heavy, farmers would gain more if they measure what they sell on scales.
Traditional Authority Wasambo, who was guest of honour at the event, urged his subjects to have desire to do better saying they could change their livelihood if they embarked on farming as business.
“Good farmers who listen to advice from the Agricultural Extension Officers have built good houses and stocked it with excellent property beating most graduates who do not have houses,” he said.
“The trick is simple. Just follow the modern farming techniques and you will always do better. When you see problems, sit down and see how they could be solved. Otherwise, no one will be laughed at if they have food in their homes.”
Meanwhile, Sichali encouraged farmers to exploit contract farming saying this enables them to have a picture of how much they would get at the end of the day.
He added that there was a lot of demand for the certified rice seeds stressing that some customers were even demanding tonnage that the groups would not realise just in a year.
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