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Poor storage facilities a ‘thorn’ for pea farmers

Malawi is one of the major pigeon pea producing countries in Africa.

A 2012 Kenyan Horticulture Competiveness Project (KHCP) report shows that in 2010 Malawi produced 182 900 metric tonnes (MTs) of pigeon peas. Malawi was followed by Kenya (103 300 MTs), Uganda (93 000 MTs), and Tanzania (55 000 MTs). The report says Malawi exported 50 000 MTs to India in 2011.

Storage of pigeons peas poses a challenge for farmers
Storage of pigeons peas poses a challenge for farmers

India in 2010 was the largest producer of pigeon peas and accounted for 2.46 million metric tonnes (MTs) or 66.8 percent of global production while Burma was the second largest producer at 724 200 MTs or 19.7 percent of total production.

It is, however, estimated that only 10 percent of processed pigeon peas in Malawi is absorbed by the domestic market, and the commercial export market remains the primary focus for Malawian producers.

Pigeon peas grain is of high nutritional value with high protein content making it very valuable for improving food security and nutrition for many poor families who cannot afford dairy and meat-based diets.

Pigeon pea has a wide range of products, including the dried seed, pods and immature seeds used as green vegetables, leaves and stems used for fodder and the dry stems as fuel.

It also improves soil fertility through nitrogen fixation as well as from the leaf fall and recycling of the nutrients. It is an important pulse crop that performs well in poor soils and regions where moisture availability is unreliable or inadequate.

The crop can be incorporated with crops such as maize, sorghum or groundnuts without significantly reducing the yield of the main crop. Intercropping with maize and groundnuts is common in Malawi.

Although pigeon peas future outlook seems promising by looking at statistics, there are a number of constraints that negatively impact on the development of the sub-sector.

During a recent media tour to Phalombe District organised by the Civil Society Agriculture Network (Cisanet) with funding from Christian Aid under the Promoting and Strengthening Honey and Pigeon peas value chains in Malawi Project, smallholder farmers and agricultural officers revealed existing structural and policy weaknesses such as poor storage facilities as factors depriving pigeon pea farmers of high-value market opportunities.

“Pigeon pea is susceptible to losses due to insects and pests, the primary of these being weevils,” said Mary Masikini a member of the Nanguluwe Women Cooperative Limited who are producers and marketers of pigeon peas in Phalombe.

She explained that weevils can penetrate the grain while in the field, dramatically reducing yields yet the majority of smallholders do not have access to any volume of pesticides and thus the threat is augmented.

“But the worst is when you store it,” she said. “Post-harvest losses of pigeon peas are high due to inadequate storage facilities. If losses are to be avoided then a quick sale is overriding, but this prevents farmers from taking advantage of market opportunities.”

Gertrude January, secretary of the Nanguluwe Women Cooperative Limited cited lack of access to high-value markets as one of the major challenges facing pigeon pea smallholder farmers in Phalombe, stating that it is a major constraint to expanded pigeon pea production.

“Chemical treatment of these pests remains unaffordable to the smallholder farmers. That is why we are using Tephrosia vongelli [fish bean] to treat pigeon peas soon after flowering until we sell to vendors or else farmers risk wastage due to improper storage,” she said.

January urged government to institute policies and programmes aimed at enabling marginal farmers to obtain remunerative prices for their farm outputs. She said most marginal farmers sell their produce soon after and even before harvest at low prices, partly to raise funds for pressing obligations such as school fees, and partly because they do not have suitable storage facilities to keep the produce to sell out of season when prices improve.

Commenting on the trend, Cisanet programme manager, Tiwonge Msonda-Banda said: “Currently, pigeon pea farmers are price takers who are paid average prices which are not sensitive to quality and food safety considerations. They have no capacity to determine prices in a marketing system that is dominated by middlemen who exploit market imperfections, resulting in the opportunistic behaviour that depress pigeon pea farm gate prices”

Experts argue that there is also a growing export market for green pigeon peas, which at the moment remains largely inaccessible to the smallholder farmers due to lack of proper handling facilities.

Meanwhile, Msonda-Banda said Cisanet continues to offer policy options on the production and marketing of pigeon peas.

“The concept of collective marketing, and improved collection points must be promoted and developed to test and evaluate its efficiency and performance, this can be done in the form of commodity exchange systems.

“If successfully implemented, these innovations would lower transactions costs and foster transparency in market organisation and coordination through providing a facility for bulking, implementation of grades and standards required by the international market, and dissemination of production and market information” he said.

Legumes and oil seed officer at Phalombe District Agriculture Office Givinor Chifunga stated that due to training in post-harvest losses reduction, pigeon pea smallholder farmers are advised to store their produce in metallic silos after thorough treatment with chemicals.

“But currently not many are using the metallic silos. They are expensive, that is one of the deterring factors,” he said.

Among other factors limiting rapid growth of pigeon pea production is insufficient access to quality seed.

Chifunga explained that the majority of seed used are local varieties, although attempts have been made by NGOS and government to widen the distribution of improved seed varieties, but uptake has still been low because farmers have tended to recycle old seed rather than purchase new varieties.

In most cases farmers allow a portion of the crop to seed and use it for next season’s planting, he said.

“This traditional practice is suitable for local varieties, but improved, hybrid varieties must be periodically repurchased to retain their desirable properties. But access to seed is another challenge in Phalombe. Seed is not locally available on the market that is why there is a lot of recycling of old seed,” he said.

Pigeon pea women farmers are crying for access to credit to enable them access affordable credit for inputs. Lack of access to credit is cited as a factor contributing to low productivity for many farmers, especially women.

Meanwhile, Cisanet is engaging key pigeon peas value chain players to create a conducive policy environment to enhance adoption of new technologies.

“Cisanet has been engaging all key pigeon peas value chain players to create a conducive policy environment that will enhance adoption of new technologies by farmers who will be able to realise economies of scale in production, and reduce price variability.

“Through this project, we are promoting   technology innovation systems, seed systems, market institutional innovations, and capacity building which are essential in contributing towards the long-term challenge of increasing the competitiveness of poor smallholder pigeon pea farmers in Malawi,” said Msonda.

And to revitalise the pigeon pea subsector and improve opportunities for tapping existing and emerging technological and market opportunities, Msonda added, Malawi needs to consider reviewing national policies guiding new variety testing and approval for release so as to reduce delays in accessing new germ plasm and to effectively respond to market demands.

He also stated that Cisanet suggests the development of policies and legal framework that promote and support contract farming and improve incentives for regular and consistent supply of quality grain.

“Future strategies should include promotion of forward market contracts between farmer groups, traders and other market participants along a shortened commodity value chain,” he said.

As the pigeon pea subsector in Malawi provides an opportunity for enhancing food security and increasing incomes for smallholder farmers, policy makers should immediately intervene since the domestic market is limited and volatile, and appreciate that long-term potential for growth of the sector lies in the exploitation of the international export markets.

This will, however, require increased utilisation of improved technologies to enhance production, productivity and quality of the grain. Restructuring of the current marketing system is also critical to lower post farm-level transaction costs so as to make pigeon peas production competitive in international markets.

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One Comment

  1. Storage of pigeon peas in metal silos is a good option however once the air-tightness (hermeticity) is guaranteed, there is no need to apply any pesticides. Use of pesticides in such cases becomes unjustifiably an increase in storage cost to the smallholder farmers.
    Candle lighting can be used to de-oxygenate the silo thereby eliminating the pests put into the structure together with the grain.

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