Banking hopes on soya, cassava

Sosten Chitumba of Salima has been growing tobacco for over 18 years. It has not been a rosy journey especially with the increased falling of prices. Yet despite this, Chitumba never thought of diversifying. He defied every call from his friends to diversify to soya and cassava.

“In 2003, the leaf had been attacked by a strange disease, eventually, affecting its quality. The sales, as a result, were poor. I even failed to pay school fees for children. Not only that,” he says.

Dazed, Chitumba changed his mind. In 2010, he surprised his wife, Zione, with news that he was diversifying to cassava and soya. At first, he could not make much cassava and soya. In fact, he began to thinking about reverting to tobacco.

As he was about to revert, he met with Land O’Lakes International Development and Clinton Foundation. Through this meeting he learnt that his failure to get more from cassava and soya was because he was not applying modern methods of farming.

Land O’ Lakes Crops Specialist Joy Harawa says many farmers have been planting cassava without the expertise to maximise yields.

Land O’Lakes is implementing the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) funded food for progress program which aims to support the development of sustainable market-oriented production and to increase the role of the private sector in the rice, cassava, and small livestock sectors in Salima and Nkhota-kota districts.

The project involves crop fields called Yankho Plots and one of them is located in Salima District. Instead of putting the farmers in a classroom to learn how they can maximise yields in cassava production, Land O’Lakes grows different varieties of cassava so that farmers can learn through seeing.

“Farmers come to us with a lot of questions on which particular breeds they can grow to harvest more. Furthermore, they also want to know issues like recommended planting space. Instead of giving explaining to them, we just take them to our Yankho plots where we grow cassava using traditional methods on one hand and through modern and recommended methods, on the other. Finally, they make decision to use modern and recommended methods of cultivating cassava,” says Harawa.

Chitumba is a beneficiary of Yankho plots.

“When I visited Yankho plot for the first time, I realised that I was getting it wrong on how I was cultivating cassava. Now I harvest more cassava from a small land because I use recommended methods of farming,” says Chitumba.

Clinton Foundation has also realised that many farmers cultivate soya using traditional methods. For instance, most farmers believe that soya does not need chemical application.

“There is need for farmers to start growing soya beans using new methods of agriculture. Many farmers say soya beans do not need application of any chemical. For this reason many farmers have not benefited much with this soya farming. It is not true that soya crop does not need any application of chemicals,” says Austin Ngwira, director of community impact at Clinton Foundation.

Ngwira says famers can grow soya on a small land and manage to harvest more. He says farmers should use recommended improved seed, with high germination and free from impurities. He adds that the seed rate should be between 80 to 100 kilograms per hectare.

“There is hope that soya crop can change lives of farmers. But first of all they should know that the secret to this success is to grow the crop in the way that is recommended by crop specialists. For example, farmers should plant soya beans at onset of rains and inoculate seed at planting. They should use high quality inoculants. They should have 350,000 to 450,000 plants per hectare,” Ngwira says.

Inoculant is a chemical which is applied to soya seeds so that when they are planted the roots should develop more nodules. Nodules provide nitrogen to the soya plant.

Farmers Union of Malawi (FUM) president Alfred Kapichira Banda who is also a farmer in Dowa says he has benefited a lot by following new methods of cultivating soya crop from Clinton Foundation.

“I follow what Clinton Foundation teaches me on how I can maximise my soya production. I control my weeds, pests and diseases. I use karate or cypermethrin for pests and folicur for soya rust. I apply folicur at 400ml to 500ml per hectare at flowering,” says Kapichira-Banda.

Ngwira says some of the symptoms of soya rust include rust brown leaves when growing and shedding off of leaves before the crop matures.

Harawa says cassava production is likely to change economic situation for the better following the increasing demand for the crop by bakeries. “Now many bakeries in Salima and Khotakota are using cassava flour to make bread. Therefore, there is huge demand for cassava. Let farmers cultivate more cassava to increase their income,” says Harawa.