AGRA

Dr. Agnes Kalibata, President, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, on tailored approaches and policies to increase agricultural production and investment

How can Africa’s agriculture industry be improved? KALIBATA: It is important that governments prioritise investment in infrastructure to drive agricultural productivity, open up markets and increase private investment in the sector. Without infrastructure, the sector cannot grow. A lack of infrastructure is a particular issue in rural areas, which are the centre of agricultural production. Rural areas need roads, especially feeder roads, in order to connect farmers to input and output markets. Infrastructure for post-harvest handling of produce, including aggregation facilities where farmers collect their produce for sale and drying infrastructure to reduce post-harvest losses, is also needed. Additionally, irrigation infrastructure is key to securing yields in the event of drought. This area has huge potential as less than 6% of Africa’s arable land is irrigated. Moreover, investment in energy infrastructure is a critical stimulus for industrialisation. This will require investment in affordable energy infrastructure, as one of the key constraints to manufacturing in Africa and growth of the industrial sector is the cost of energy and the resultant lack of competitiveness.

What kinds of policy can further encourage the development of irrigation systems in Africa? KALIBATA: Irrigation in Africa is constrained by three main factors: First, the irrigation models available focus on large scale activities, whereas 80% of African farmers are smallholders. Second, the skills base to develop irrigation technologies is very weak. Third, the financial requirement in terms of capital investment is huge. Achieving food security calls for a shift from over-reliance on large-scale irrigation to a hybrid that accommodates the needs of small-scale, household farms. This is becoming increasingly possible as technologies like solar-powered water pumps are made available to help smallholder farmers adapt to the changing climate. Governments should also provide financial incentives and make accessing irrigation affordable to farmers.

Large-scale irrigation can also benefit from government support through a reduction in the cost of equipment by removing taxation and providing affordable financial tools. This will encourage the private sector to invest in irrigation. Africa should explore a large-scale irrigation infrastructure model that allows farming communities across the continent to connect and use water at a fee. This is a common model in Asia, and as a result, 44% of Asia’s agriculture is currently irrigated.

To what extent does land ownership impact land use for agricultural purposes? KALIBATA: Very few African countries have policies that define how land is used between competing needs. As a result, most developments are not a product of a well-planned process. There is therefore a need to thoroughly define land ownership, as it impacts how farmers think about the value of land and what they could use it for. For example, Rwanda, despite having one of the lowest amounts of land per capita in Africa, has a completely liberalised land policy. This framework acts as an incentive for households to obtain financing to invest in land improvement – for instance, by investing in better seeds, fertilisers and other technologies. However, even under such an organised system, there is still work to be done on plot allocation for agricultural purposes to ensure optimal land use.

How else can smallholder farm yields be increased? KALIBATA: Smallholder farming in Africa depends a lot on rain-fed agriculture. A green revolution in Africa would have to be backed up by solid knowledge of agro-ecology as the continent’s lands are extremely diverse. Farmers would need better-performing seeds and fertilisers, and better access to financial instruments that enable them to acquire technologies, including those that reduce harvest loss. More importantly, farmers will need access to structured markets to grow their business and to farm sustainably.

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Agriculture, particularly, food trade remains one of the important areas Ghana should focus on to harness the benefits of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) recently adopted by African heads of state, Interim Regional Head, West Africa of the Africa Green Revolution Alliance (AGRA), Forster Boateng has said.

To this end, he has called on the government to put in place the necessary infrastructure, technological and digital systems and policy initiatives to help increase the food production of small-holder farmers in the country.

Mr Boateng said this in an interview with journalists after a private sector breakfast meeting for the players in the agricultural value chain in the country on the upcoming African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) to be held in Ghana at the Accra International Conference Centre.

The programme, the tenth in the series since 2006, slated for September 3-6, 2019 will be held on the theme, ‘The role of private sector in agribusiness value chain digitisation.’

Mr Boateng explained that as an agrarian economy, with abundant water resources and fertile lands, the food sector was one of the low hanging fruits the country could pluck under the AfCFTA.

The AfCFTA is an initiative to provide duty and quota free access to markets in Africa, and is expected to create a market of about 1.2 billion people and a combine Gross Domestic Product of $3 trillion.

Turning his focus on the 2019 AGRF, Mr Boateng said the programme was to bring together experts to brainstorm and explore investment and networking opportunities during the upcoming event.

He said the new strategic direction of AGRA, after investing more than $60-million in small-holder agriculture in the past ten years in the areas of research, inclusive financing and extension services, was to leverage private sector investment to promote agriculture in Africa.

The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto who spoke on the theme of the programme, in a speech read on his behalf said the private sector had a huge role to play to address the financing challenges in the agricultural sector.

He said Africa’s population was estimated to reach 10 billion and this presented opportunity as well as a challenge to the continent in terms of meeting the food needs for the people.

This, Dr Afriyie said digital technology would play a critical role in boosting food production in Africa, and pledged that government would continue in mechanising agriculture in the country.

The President of the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Nana Appiagyei Dankawoso I, in a speech read on his behalf lauded the AGRA for the programme and commended government for the initiatives it had taken over the years to promote agriculture.

Read the original article on Ghanaian Times.

The Kaduna State government is set to establish an e-library and data banks for its Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to strengthen the capacity of the staff of the ministry in the areas of planning and budgeting, monitoring, evaluation and coordination. This is aimed at boosting food production in the state.

Project Manager of the state Ministry of Agriculture, Yakubu Gora, disclosed this on Sunday in Kaduna during the official handing over of ICT equipment presented by Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) to the ministry as part of two years collaborations to built capacity of farmers and impact agricultural knowledge. Gora, who also doubles as project manager for AGRA, said the equipment will also be used to monitor the performance of departments in the ministry, in terms of data collection and other daily activities to boost food security for medium and smallholder farmers.

He said: “We will like to see change in mindset and attitude of the staff towards office work and delivering effectively. The purpose of the project is to fill the gaps identified in areas of planning and budgeting, monitoring and evaluation, coordination.” In his remarks, the technical assistant on coordination for Synergos on AGRA project, Muhammad Musa Sheriff, said the equipment will help increase food security for smallholder farmers, as well as improve sources of income for them. “We also aimed to see enhance programme, system delivery and effective coordination in the ministry,” Sheriff added.

The ICT equipment presented by AGRA included; Laptops, Printers, computers and photocopiers. Other ICT equipment received by the ministry are projectors, monitors, and routers among others.

The vast plains of Laikipia County in Kenya are home to two kinds of potato farmers; those that can access the market directly, and those that must go through dealers commonly referred to as ‘middlemen’. This is because, transporting this commodity to the market place often attracts an extra burden of costs, one that many smallholder farmers are unable to bear.

While one would imagine that the farmers with direct access to customers have an advantage, this is not in fact the reality. Many of them rely on the unpredictable flow of potential customers by the sides of major roads connecting the county and other major towns. They target motorists on the roads negotiating for best prices whenever a car slows down and stops. It’s a very informal way of doing business with little consistency or assurity.

The remaining farmers, who are the majority, rely on middlemen who have the capital  to easily meet farmers’ quick cash requirement. Unfortunately, these middlemen often squeeze the prices of the potato to such a low level that whilst they are easing the commodity market burden, farmers are left with little to no profit for their potatoes. 

This exploitive situation is replicated across the country in the potato growing areas and it’s making potato farming increasingly unattractive and unsustainable for small holder farmers.

Potato is the second most important food crop in Kenya, after maize, and it attracts a regular demand across the country all year round.  More than 800,000 smallholder farmers are involved in its cultivation, yielding 2.9 million metric tonnes valued at an estimated Ksh. 50 billion from 158,000 hectares of land annually. The subsector also benefits an additional 3 million people indirectly.

But for smallholder farmers who produce the crop, they suffer the brunt of the exploitative market situation for the money earned is incommensurate to the efforts involved in potato growing.

The losses experienced are mainly a consequence of market dominating middlemen, who seek to buy large quantities of farm produce at the lowest cost possible. Consequently, and because of poor farmgate sales, the price of potatoes is largely determined and set by the middlemen, with the product being sold by extended bagful  instead of weight.  

Without the implementation of laws determining the size of the bags in which potatoes are sold, over time, traders have devised ways of extending the size of sacks to pack more produce, while maintaining the cost per bag at original price.  

While the law is clear on the penalty for such actions with The Potato Produce and Marketing Act  2014 prescribing imprisonment for a period not exceeding  three years or a fine not exceeding five million shillings for individuals who contravene the provisions of subsections 5(2), 9(1), 11, 14(1), and 15 (1)(2) and those who  contravene  7(1), 8(1), 9(1), 10 (1)(b), 13(1), the challenge in curbing the practice of trading using extended bags remains.

Currently, there is light shining on the potato sector in form of the newly enacted Crops (Irish Potato) Regulation, that was gazetted in early April, 2019. The regulation will require farmers and dealers to pack Irish Potatoes into a maximum weight of 50kg and sell by kilo.  Once implemented, the regulation will bring a reprieve to the farmers who previously would sell their produce to traders in bags that weighed up to  120kg at the cost of Kshs. 1,500 translating to a meagre Kshs. 12.5 per kilo. In fact, the new regulation will save farmers up to 50 per cent of their returns which are currently lost due to poor packaging.

Farmers are excited about the regulations but equally concerned. “We are really pleased with the new regulations released by the Ministry of Agriculture, however our fear is, will the regulations be enforced”? laments David Kariuki, one of the potato farmers based in Nyahururu.

To enhance the process of its implementation, The Agriculture Council of Kenya (AgCK) with support from AGRA is partnering with Country Governments of some of the potato growing counties including Nakuru, Nyandarua, Elgeyo Marakwet, Meru, Narok and Bungoma. Through this collaboration, the organisations   have designed a two year intervention aimed at Strengthening the Enabling Environment for the Transformation of Potato Value Chain – SEETPVC. 

The intervention seeks to ensure that requisite implementation mechanisms for the Irish potato regulation, 2019 are put in place by the county authorities who are required to implement the regulations. Among key actions include: sensitization of all actors along the Irish potato value chain; formation of a multi-departmental and formation of a multi stakeholder task unit to spearhead the implementation of the regulations with a secretariat at the department of agriculture.

Implementation suport will also include alignment of county level regulations to anchor the potato regulations and; build the capacity of the different actors to comply and  enforce the regulations. So far, the council has  facilitated development of implementation action plans and road map as well as technical manuals to guide implementation of the regulations.

It is anticipated that, the intervention will result in buy in and adoption of the regulations by the county authorities. Through this, the counties will be able to put in place implementation mechanisms including amendment of any county level regulation that conflict with the regulations, allocation of finances towards implementation of the regulations and documentation of the process towards informing the approach in implementation of other upcoming agriculture sector regulations and effective policy implementation generally.

To realize this, political goodwill is key as well as the need for harmonized and coordinated implementation across all counties. While the regulations seek to create an enabling environment for potato sector development, it should also be clear that other interventions are also important so as to holistically address the challenges farmers are facing including access to certified seed, quality inputs, finance as well as extension services among others.

The implementation of the regulation will further enable the farmers to benefit through their growers associations. To this end, farmers will  be able to determine the price of their produce based on production costs and profit margins. The growers associations will also provide an avenue for farmers to access other services including finances, extension as well as bulk purchase of inputs, thus reducing cost of production significantly.

In addition, there will be an establishment of collection centres; which will serve as the designate point of potato sale and purchase in addition to other designated markets. The collection points will enable farmers to grade, sort and package their potato ready for sale. It will be the key point for value addition. This will go a long way to soothe the pain as described by Paul Wafula a trader at Bungoma Chwele market who notes that ‘’If farmers could consolidate their produce reducing our cost of produce aggregation and surety of quality, we would fetch better prices’’

There is plenty to be done for best results to be achieved. But the enactment of the Irish Potato Regulation and the complimentary interventions for its implementation is already a good show in the race towards alleviating the hurdles faced in marketing potatoes.

Through their CEO, Mercy Mburu, AgCK is urging  Irish potato sub-sector stakeholders to work together. “We must leverage on each other’s strengths towards sustaining the momentum for a regulated potato sub-sector. This will expedite implementation and retain the confidence that the public has in the stakeholders and the sector.”  Mercy emphasises.

Iringa: Alliance for Green Revolution (AGRA) has commended Tanzania for taking a step forward in the development of agriculture sector which places it ahead of some of its peers across the continent. To move further up, AGRA President Dr Agnes Kalibata said it is paramount for stakeholders to build stronger and more developmental partnerships with small scale farmers across the country in addressing emerging opportunities and challenges. Dr Kalibata said this when an international agriculture stakeholders delegation visited the Iringa regional offices, Tanzania on July 26, 2019. The stakeholders were from Burkina Faso, Mali, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Kenya. The president of the partnership-driven institution and smallholder farmer-centered institution posed that transitioning agriculture to be more productive calls for wide dynamic partnerships, that create great access to local, regional and international markets and ensures smallholder farmers are able to lead a sustainable quality life and improve their fortunes. “There are systems that have worked in Iringa that we need to pick up. Other partners, including local governments as well as the larger private sector, should replicate what is working for the benefit of smallholder farmers,” she noted.

Dr Kalibata noted that for the green revolution to move forward African governments at the national and local levels must step up relations with stakeholders in the sector with interests of the smallholder farmer at the center stage. The international delegation held a conference at the regional offices, where there was a sharing of ideas and experiences and later on visited farms and agribusinesses that are exemplary in the region. AGRA in Tanzania has been supporting the government’s efforts for sustainable agriculture through a consortium model. This is a platform that brings together all partners involved in the agricultural value chain from implementing partners, local government, stakeholders, all the way down to farmers, which brings transparency in linkages to different services and products. She noted the national government plays a big role in enhancing the success and sustainability of such projects while the local governments help to reduce duplication of the same projects by other stakeholders. “Our work is to facilitate but let the local government take lead and adapt it so that there can be sustainability even when the project ends. They have the mandate and ability to reach for much more than we can,” she noted. While welcoming the delegates, acting Iringa Regional Administrative Sectary, Mr Wilfred Myuyu noted that Ihemi-Ludewa Consortium with support from AGRA was doing well in supporting the agriculture sector for the benefit of smallholder farmers. “Despite persistent challenges facing the agricultural sector. I’m proud to inform you that the AGRA Ihemi-Ludewa project has contributed a lot in addressing most challenges related to productivity, post-harvest management and access to inputs and output markets, not only to Iringa but all the way to Njombe and Ruvuma regions,” he said. He said in the current 2018/19 marketing year, they estimate to produce 1,346,393 tonnes of maize,  151,235 tonnes of beans and 104,867 tonnes of paddy, to name a few. Prof Nuhu Hatibu – AGRA Head for Tanzania, Rwanda, and Uganda said the institution drive in Tanzania was to work closely with the government for industrial development as per nation goals and vision to reach middle-income status. We want to see small-scale farmers produce and continue to produce raw materials for industries,” he said. The delegation, led by Agra President is expected to meet the Minister of Agriculture, Hon Japhet Hasunga in Dodoma on Monday

A section of value chain players want the Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) to automate the registration processes on the grounds that the agro dealers find the current system archaic, bureaucratic and laborious.

They also called for establishment of one stop centre where all issues relating to agro dealers whose primary jobs among other things entails increasing access of agricultural inputs to those who need them with minimum or no hassle at all. 
The one stop centre should have all the information needed for one to become an agro dealer, importer or supplier of agriculture chemicals especially fertilizers.

This, they say will reduce time spent clearing agro chemicals like fertilizers whose delay to reach farmers tend to come with costs.

On behalf of the agro dealers, Mr Habib Amin Tibrichu, a consultant for AFAP recommended that it should be embedded in the new fertilizer policy and regulations.

“In the end, the process will increase efficiency in fertilizer distribution, eliminate corruption tendencies, improve accountability, transparency and even make it easy for the Ministry of Agriculture to monitor and regulate those dealing in authorized fertilizers and related agro chemicals,” said Tibrichu said recently in Kampala.

AFAP is the African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership, an International NGO that looks at Soil Health and promotion of fertilizer distribution mechanisms and policies in Africa.

He explained that through his research, agro dealers accused the ministry of agriculture of long registration processes, cumbersome acquisition of licenses, long processes of issuance of import permits in addition to corruption and bribery during inspections.

“The Ministry should copy examples from institutions like UTB and automate its processes such as the application of certificates of operation, registration, checking which fertilizers have been registered or not so that agro dealers are not found with non-registered agro chemicals during inspection,” he said.

The second public private dialogue on the fertilizer sub sector held in Kampala, organized by AFAP, MAAIF with financial support from the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, also noted that further complication, resulting from uncoordinated and unregulated inspections as several people nowadays tend to masquerade as inspectors from the ministry.

The dialogue was aimed at presenting key recommendations to MAAIF for action and come up with specific actions to address concerns raised by agro dealers to improve the quality of agro inputs and its trade.

Wilfred Thembo-Mwesigwa, the AFAP Policy Consultant for Uganda explained that the new fertilizer policy and regulations were formulated and made available for use last year to help streamline the business of agro chemicals especially fertilizer business in Uganda.

But due to absence of a regulatory framework in the fertilizer market, fertilizer trade and use remained underdeveloped, wondering how the government hopes to achieve its mission of transforming the country into a middle income country by 2040.

On average, farmers in Uganda apply only 1kg of fertilizers per hectare. As a result, the commissioner crop inspection, and Certification, Paul Mwambu noted that Uganda losses up to 80 kilogrammes of nutrients per hectare annually.

It emerged in the meeting that at least 50 kilogrammes of fertilizers should be the very minimum applied per hectare.

BEIJING, July 18 (Xinhua) — China’s success in feeding the world’s largest population with its limited farmland is illuminating for African countries’ approach to food security, said attendees to a workshop on China-Africa rice cooperation.

African countries expect innovation based on China’s experience to transform smallholder agriculture into farming as a burgeoning business, said Dr. Kehinde Makinde, country manager for Nigeria of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), at the workshop held in Beijing Wednesday.

Rice is either a staple or alternative food crop in many African countries. However, due to the lack of technology and funding, rice production potential is far from being tapped, leaving many of the countries heavily reliant on import to feed the large population.

Although Mozambique has good natural conditions to grow rice, its domestic output remains limited, said Pedro Dzucula, national director for Agriculture and Silviculture under Mozambique’s Ministry of Agriculture, on the same occasion, adding that the country has imported an average over 365,000 tons of rice annually from Asian rice producers since 2000.

“There is obvious complementarity and potential in China-Africa agricultural cooperation, especially in the rice value chain,” said Zhang Ning, director for the South-South Fund Program of the China International Center for Economic and Technical Exchange (CICETE) under the Ministry of Commerce, also at the workshop.

At the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in 2018, China said it would work with African countries to make plans on agricultural cooperation and assist the continent in achieving general food security by 2030.

Cooperation in the rice industry is key to the China-Africa cooperation, and the development of the rice industry is the foundation of a prosperous and stable Africa, Zhang said.

In a joint initiative reached late June during the first China-Africa Trade Expo in Changsha, Hunan Province, the CICETE, African Union, AGRA and other contributing parties pledged to leverage their comparative advantages to advance China-Africa rice value chain cooperation through bolstering agricultural business, adapting and investing in suitable rice technologies.

The initiative represented a roadmap for future cooperation, Zhang said, adding that an agricultural technology demonstration center started in Mozambique immediately after its release.

Mozambique has a population of 28 million and arable land of 36 million hectares, only around one-tenth of which is cultivated.

Mozambique faces bottlenecks like high-cost machinery, low degree of agro-processing and limited market access of final products, said Dzucula, calling on Chinese businesses, especially those from the private sector, to invest in these sectors.

Noting similar challenges in Nigeria, Matthew Olusegun Owolabi, an official with the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, suggested that Chinese agriculture demonstration centers should play a bigger role in training agricultural machinery mechanics and operators.

The meeting, themed “Tapping into the Potential of China-Africa Rice Cooperation,” was sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Beijing Office, an active advocator for triangular cooperation in advancing development and health agendas in Africa.

It has been a poignant year for AGRA; just 12 years since his rallying cry for a “uniquely African green revolution” led to AGRA’s formation, we lost its founder, Kofi Anan: a blow not just to African agriculture, but to the world. Retiring Chair, Strive Masiyiwa vowed to keep his dream and vision alive and, as he prepares to depart the role he inherited from Kofi Annan, he looks back on a year of impressive results, positive impact and fruitful collaboration.

This year has seen AGRA focus on three key areas: policy and state capacity, to strengthen leadership within the agriculture sector; systems development, to ensure structures are in place to effectively deliver inputs and advice to famers; and partnerships that guarantee value while supporting government priorities. This included AGRA working with regional partners to drive efforts around the continental accountability system. The Africa Agriculture Transformation Scorecard (AATS), as part of the CAADP Biennial Review process, was used to push for evidenced-based policy and development outcomes and the Heads of State dashboard was formally presented at the 2018 Malabo Agriculture Policy and Learning Event as a tool for national level advocacy and communication.

State capability and policy engagement are the best route to getting rid of the red tape that continues to hamper progress at government level. This year AGRA supported governments to develop and launch a number of new initiatives: in Kenya, the Agriculture Sector Transformation and Growth Strategy (ASTGS) to drive sector development over the next decade; in Tanzania, the Agriculture Development Programme (ASDPII) to improve food security and nutrition; and in Ghana, the flagship programme Planting for Food and Jobs to address the declining growth of the country’s agriculture sector. In addition, it carried out in-depth analyses of input subsidies in Mali, Burkina Faso and Kenya to inform future strategy and provided tailored support to Ministries of Agriculture in Kenya, Ghana, Ethiopia and Malawi, while in Ethiopia it supported the government in removing import duties from some agricultural machinery, irrigation equipment and animal feed ingredients.

As part of continuing systems development, AGRA focused on delivering yield-increasing technologies to farmers using consortia: consortia are coalitions of all those operating in a food value chain and deliver results by ensuring inclusive cooperation. By supporting 24 of these consortia in 2018 AGRA delivered services to 8 million farmers through 1,304 SMEs and 1,970 agro-dealers. Other groups helped farmers access better inputs, reach more markets and influence local policy discussions to inform national debate. This is yielding results; in Tanzania where local government pushed to abolish the export ban on cereals and in Burkina Faso where the private sector has been mobilised to market inputs directly to famers.

Partnerships continue to be AGRA’s key route to progress. The past year has seen alliances forged with top agribusinesses, SeedCo and Yara, mechanisation firms such as John Deere, and relationships built with IBM, Rabobank, Nestlé, Africa Improved Foods and Olam, to name just a few. During the year 93 companies and institutions were engaged and 123 partnership opportunities are being pursued, with nearly $10 million raised from the private sector in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania alone, and the Deal Room, a new initiative at 2018’s African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF), matched $2 million in investment to potential investors. As a key founding member of the Partnership for Inclusive Agricultural Transformation in Africa (PIATA), AGRA continues to provide coordinated support to African leaders, while leveraging investments from private institutions. This year the UK Department for International Development (DFID) joined and brings expertise in policy predictability and market systems development. More partnerships were built at AGRF 2018, hosted in Kigali and attended by 2,700 delegates from 79 countries, it was widely praised as the best forum to date by AGRF partners and other participants. All this means AGRA is now the partner of choice for companies looking to scale successful models.

Just two years into its five-year strategy, AGRA has committed $130 million and its interventions have directly reached 2.6 million farmers with a commitment to reach 9 million and another 21 million indirectly. But there is still much to be done; progress as usual is not good enough to make this Africa’s century and the focus must be on finishing the job and delivering the mission. Thanks to AGRA, the institutions and governments it works with now have a significant bank of technologies, knowledge and relationships to help achieve an agricultural transformation in Africa. The emphasis is on impact, progress and partnership, and AGRA is making the grade and a legacy fit to honour the memory of its visionary founder.

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Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development says trials for area specific fertiliser expected to address nutrient needs in a bid to boost production will start during the 2019/20 growing season.

The trials, expected to run for two years, follow the discovery by the ministry that use of uniform fertilisers nationwide make farmers pay more for nutrients that may not be needed within their areas; hence, the need to change the course.

The ministry is implementing the Strengthening Fertiliser Systems through Promotion of Area Specific Fertiliser Blending in Malawi project alongside The Story Workshop Education Trust (SWET) with financial and technical support from the Alliance from Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).

Speaking during an awareness campaign on the changes at Zombwe Extension Planning Area (EPA) at Ekwendeni in Mzimba, the ministry’s deputy director for land resource survey and evaluation Gilbert Kupunda said they are moving from an old general blanket which, he said, wrongly assumes that all soils in the country have the same deficiencies.

He said the ministry set up a soil mapping steering committee to facilitate the development of area specific fertiliser recommendation nationwide.

Said Kupunda: “We want to devolve the fertiliser that will actually address the needs for that specific area. When you use the bracket fertiliser, you make farmers pay more for nutrients that they don’t need.”

He said farmers have been complaining about the bracket fertilisers, which have increased acidity in the soils, leading to low crop response.

Swet senior production manager Zee Chunga said most farmers complain of low yields; hence, the need to change the course of thinking and doing things in the agriculture sector.

Maize production decreased from 3 464 139 metric tonnes (MT) based on the 2016/17 Third Round Agricultural Production Estimates to 2 697 959MT in the 2017/18 third round estimates.

The affected population will require 138 488 MT of maize relief, according to Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee (MVAC).