Certified seeds thrust hope through changing weather

For a long time, Rachel Nyamphotwa gradually but sustainably saw her rice harvests get miserable. Being someone from a remote setting and not so much there education wise, she remained ignorant of the causes of the dwindling harvests.

If she consulted Felix Sichali, Project Manager for the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat), as early as possible, she might have quickly realised that weather changes had enveloped her and led to the misfortune.

Unfortunately, since the ignorance remained, Nyamphotwa could only watch as the quality of her rice harvest also followed the route taken by the amount of harvest. She completely lost hope and all she got each time she wanted to sell her rice were insults.

“I tried everything to maximise the harvest but I did not succeed,” says Nyamphotwa. “People even thought we wanted to dupe them when we sold them such rice.”

Nyamphotwa referred to the Kilombero rice variety. This is a highly revered rice variety whose aroma catapults it well over the other rice varieties and helps it attract customers.

But, courtesy of a changing weather pattern – a result of climate change – and use of recycled seeds, this variety gradually but continuously lost all the attributes that helped it dwarf the other rice varieties.

The aroma went, and possibly faster than it came. And when people like Nyamphotwa wanted to sell a little of such, potential buyers thought they had mixed miserable varieties and wanted to dupe.

“It is very impossible to realise the same quality of rice and get the same amount of harvest in these times of climate change. But that is something we can’t live with because people need quality,” says Sichali.

“There is need to introduce certified varieties which quickly adapt to these climatic changes and maintain the quality that recycled seeds lose quickly.”

And Icrisat, with financial support from the Irish Aid, extended the Malawi Seed Industry Development to Karonga. Its mission was very simple: produce certified Kilombero seeds and allow it to thrust hope through the climatic changes back to Nyamphotwa and other farmers in the area.

Through the National Smallholder Farmers Association of Malawi (Nasfam) Karonga branch, the certified seeds landed in Mwenewisi Village in TA Kilupula’s area in the district. This was at the beginning of the just ended growing season.

Forward came eight farmers’ clubs encompassing 58 marketing action centres (Macs). Each farmer got 20 kilogrammes of the certified seeds and away they went into their gardens.

“I planted early in the season and I applied manure to the field,” says Hastings Sinkhutwa, lead farmer in the Peter Marketing Action Centre (Peter Mac). As lead farmer, his role is to show others how to grow the rice.

“The results were stunning. People kept asking me what variety I had planted in the field. They could not even believe that I just applied manure and nothing else to the rice.”

When harvest time came he bagged 20 bags each weighing 100 kilogrammes. This was a record breaker. Before jumping to certified seeds, he says, he harvested between nine and 10 bags – not more.

He adds that he sold 10 bags and realised a record K58,000. He chose to sell after weighing on the scales and got K58 per kilogramme.

Nyamphotwa, chairperson for the Chitukuko club in the area, also got the miracle from the certified seeds.

She says: “I planted one seedling per hole. As the paddy grew, I realised that these seeds are very different from what we had been planting. The rice just grew vigorously and never fell down.

“It grew just very well. Cooking this rice is also very simple. And it is just very tasty and aromatic.”

She adds that the harvest realised from the certified seeds has changed the farmers’ enemies. With the harvests from uncertified seeds, buyers were the enemies. But now, buyers are friends and those still using the uncertified seeds are the enemies.

“The rice from the certified seeds sells very well. Buyers come for it and people hate us because of the way this rice attracts customers,” she adds.

Sichali says the clubs in the area were handed the seeds on trial basis. He says after multiplying at Wovwe and Hara in the district, the seeds needed to be tested on suitability in the wake of the changing climatic patterns.

“After noting how people were struggling to realise bumper rice harvests we said what needed to be done. We came up with the idea of multiplying the certified seeds,” he says.

“Clubs were established and the certified seeds were multiplied. Then it was time to look at getting the certified seeds to the farmer and Karonga Nasfam [branch] was brought in.

“We are pleased that the farmers got the certified seeds and tested them. Lucky enough, government policy towards the initiative is positive. There is political will through the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security to promote use of certified seeds.”

He says having been impressed with the success the certified seeds registered, the seeds will be availed to farmers through Nasfam.

Karonga Nasfam board chair Howard Msukwa says there is more reason to embrace the certified seeds because they bring more hope than just returning the aroma. He says the crop harvest is heavier than one realised after using the uncertified seeds.

He says this has stopped farmers from selling through buckets. The farmers realised that they can get more from their produce if they weighed it before selling.

“And Karonga Nasfam has broken its record on buying the produce as well,” he says. “We bought 700 metric tons in seven weeks. In the past, we were hovering around 500 tons after buying for over three months.”

People like Nyamphotwa might have struggled to get the best from their rice plantations because of recycled varieties and changing weather patterns. But there should be jubilation now because the certified seeds can thrust hope back to them through the weather changes.