The cliché for our Malawi nation developmentally paradoxically remains- ‘chuma chathu chagona mnthaka’ – literally translated agriculture is the hallmark of our national development. So what am I driving at when I surmise- ‘nthaka yathu sinaguge akuguga ndimaganizidwe ’, translated our soils are not yet depleted it is our mindset that is becoming obsolete. The thesis is premised on the argument that poverty reduction and empowerment of the poorest of our grassroots populace continues to be a key priority in the national development agenda for Malawi, case in point being Malawi Agenda 2063 – https://malawi.un.org/en/108390-malawi-vision-2063-inclusively-wealth-and-self-reliant-nation . That key priority also resonates with the global agenda as specified in Sustainable Development goal number 1 on eliminating world poverty by 2030 https://www.undp.org/sustainable-development-goals
Interventions to combat poverty for Malawi are however being bedeviled by bottlenecks emanating from climate change related disasters such as drought spells, flush floods and epidemics. Gains made overtime have also been stalled over the past two years by the Covid-19 pandemic that has impacted and thrown the entire global economy into recession. The Russia vs Ukraine war has also meant fertilizer prices are spiking with deleterious ramifications on our national subsidies farm input programme (AIP).
Within that backdrop, it becomes pertinent to brainstorm and tap out potential interventions that would salvage us from tragedy especially at grassroots level. Over 80% of the Malawian population survives on and depends on subsistence agriculture. The economy overall is agrobased with agriculture constituting a major portion of our gross domestic product (GDP). Conservation Agricultural and Environment related thinking therefore becomes key if we are to make meaningful headway in combating challenges at our disposal. What am I driving at? Projects! Conservation related and environmental friendly projects.
Projects through the Ministry of Agriculture and other Agriculture related non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to instill and transfer knowledge and practical skills nationwide, the critical one on reducing our dilemma for poverty reduction and the dependency syndrome on synthetic inorganic fertilizers being on compost manure production. That targeting of course the significant majority proportion of our smallholder farmers who form the hub of our economy and the pinnacle of our food security.
The compost manure production project is projected and proposed to focus on capturing and retaining the biomass (husks and other residue) from agricultural raw post harvest matter in maize and other crops, just after harvest gradually building large composts banks within the fields using modern compost manure production technologies with technical advice from Agricultural extension officers and agricultural district departments (ADDs). The crop biomass in almost all fields for every household could be gradually upgraded with livestock manure (goat manure, chicken manure etc from the kholas in the homes) over the after harvest period as people wait for another rain season. Pertinent to highlight is that compost manure mixed soils retains and captures more moisture than ordinary soils. In this era of erratic rains curtesy of climate change, that aids cushion farmers from low productivity.
The compost manure production activity would be combined with other smallholder post harvest cores like winter cropping (madimba). Those large masses of compost manure would then closer to the rain season be spread across all fields. Incentivising or motivation to champion adherence could be fostered through key stakeholders like the Minister of Agriculture and even his Excellency the President. Post season visits and inspection of those conservation agriculture compost manure intervention and technologies could be factored into the Minister of Agriculture and the Presidential Calendar perhaps with motivational awards presented to the best farmers for best production of compost in terms of quantity and quality.
This done every year and becoming part of the agricultural best practice for the majority of smallholder farmers would mean significant reductions on the national cost and budget for inorganic synthetic Fertilizers that we import and distribute through the AIP programme – https://www.devex.com/news/can-malawi-s-agricultural-inputs-program-improve-food-security-102499 . Perhaps what we would focus on would now be to distribute Urea (wobeleketsa) as the D compound component would have been taken care of. And it would also mean sustainability of the practice every year translating to sustainable pedological rejuvenation of our soils across the nation (kubwezeletsa chonde mnthaka for the majority of smallholder farmer arable land plots). That will eventually also mean nthaka ibwelera mwakale …tithetsa kuguga. It further also means significant crop productivity for the majority of houlseholds in the smallholder subsistence category.
Also bearing in mind that mostly all the postharvest biomass is burnt by the majority of farmers, we would also be protecting the environment from greenhouse ambient air pollutants in PM 2.5, CO, and CO2 – https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/green-gases That translates into environmental management and climate change mitigation / adaptation as the globe transitions toward zero greenhouse gas emissions and/or perhaps a hydrogen economy - https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/hydrogen-economy . Our farmers need us to idealize participatorily with them as primary beneficiaries of interventions through a bottom up approach. Community participation is key.
Developing methodologies with and through the primary farmer beneficiaries coupled with championing the merits of conservation agriculture and environmental management is vital for the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals; specifically goal 1 on poverty reduction, goal 13 on climate action, goal 7 on affordable as well as clean energy, and goal 3 on good health and well being – https://www.undp.org/sustainable-development-goals . It is also vital for achieving national goals specified in Malawi Agenda 2063. By the end of the day increase in crop productivity per hectar or acre of farmland will imply foodsecurity for the majority of farmers, more forex generation for the nation and exponential microeconomic (household) wealth production and empowerment. Combined with other initiatives on the ground like microfinance and other appropriate technologies in agriculture, we as a nation will yield significant gains in changing dynamics of the cycle of poverty that ravages our agricultural system and our poorest of farmers perennially.
Malawi is Agrobased and our majority of the populace depend on the Agricultural value chain either at first line subsistence level, as middlemen buying and selling produce or involved in value addition sectors as well as industrial manufacturing of end products for consumption or export. Pertinent to highlight is how it becomes pathetic that we are not so committed on value addition for most of our agricultural products both crop and livestock. Ironically we wouldn’t be decrying cooking oil prices resultant from imported cooking oils as we produce the raw material groundnuts, soya beans and corn to sustain ourselves and even export cooking oil. Even basic farmers would be able to produce cooking oil with appropriate technologies. The technology and industrial machinery for cooking oil production is basic and cheap.
Malawi produces tons and tons of groundnuts, corn, and soya beans and now one can see sunflower in many fields across Lilongwe farms, Mchinji farms, in Rumphi farms , in Machinga farms, in Zomba farms and even in Karonga farms. Decrying cooking oil prices at our level of raw material production and export and when we could practically manufacture on our own end product and export or have consumers nationally buy at reasonable prices shows lack of seriousness on our behalf as a nation.
Additionally the other missed opportunity in conservation agriculture and environmental management is embedded within our energy sector mainly focusing on fossil fuels like petroleum and diesel for sustaining the transportation energy need . The association with greenhouse CO, P.M 2.5, CO2 is unequivocal – https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/greenhouse-gases. And this poses a major challenge as the world battles climate change disasters in flooding and drought spells and endeavors to mitigate effects of global warming. Our tragic memories of flooding and storms in Nsanje, Chikwawa, Mangochi and a majority of other Districts are still fresh.
The gist of my argument in agricultural terms is we could play our role as a nation in reducing greenhouse gas emissions emanating from petroleum and diesel in the transportation sector by optimizing biofuel production and blending that with petroleum and diesel not only to reduce fuel prices but above all else reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We could use our soya bean, our extra corn and some of the molasses from sugar production to produce ethanol that could then be blended with petroleum and diesel hence significantly reducing fuel prices and by extension emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Combined with afforestation and encouraging every smallholder household to have a fruit orchard as well as a stand for some trees – like eucalyptus, pine or nsingwi, we would cumulatively increase the forestry cover for the nation – https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/11/afforestation-can-help-tackle-climate-change-heres-how/ . The benefits if implemented through consented effort would be incremental as the associated practical skills, knowledge gains and behaviour or mindset changes would be. Conservation agriculture amalgamated with fostering practical skills and knowledge for environmental management has far-fetching benefits not only for our smallholder farmers but the nation at large. Let’s think conservation and let’s agro innovate …for the better of the nation and above all else for the better of our grassroots and mainly poorest smallholder farmers.
References
Devex Global Development News (2022) Can Malawi’s Agricultural inputs program improve food security. https://www.devex.com/news/can-malawi-s-agricultural-inputs-program-improve-food-security-102499
EPA (2021) Climate change indicators: Greenhouse Gases – United States Environmental Protection Agency https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/greenhouse-gases
Science Direct (2019) Hydrogen Economy https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/hydrogen-economy
UNDP (2016) Sustainable Development Goals https://www.undp.org/sustable-development-goals
United Nations Malawi (2021) Malawi Vision2063: An inclusively wealthy and self reliant nation https://malawi.un.org/en/108390-malawi-vision-2063-inclusively-wealth-and-self-reliant-nation
World Economic Forum (2021) Afforestation can help to tackle climate change. Here is how. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/11/afforestation-can-help-tackle-climate-change-heres-how/
