Years ago, farmers like Jane Loki could not dream big or in colour about ever making any meaningful profits and realise material gains out of sorghum – a crop locally known as mapira.
Now, Loki, from Kuyeri village, Traditional Authority Mbenje in the Lower Shire district of Nsanje, tells a different story.
And her story is shared by another farmer, Maxwell Phuthe who has emerged from perennially battling pangs of poverty to owning several heads of cattle and a decent house, courtesy of sorghum.
Their fortunes have changed after they realised that they could no longer keep to the traditional practice of producing the crop just for household consumption.
Until recently, it never crossed their minds that even using locally generated seed, they could make money from the crop and transform their lives almost overnight. They are thus surprised with their new-found freedom.
“It is like a dream to us that sorghum can bring us such a steady income as we are getting now. This crop was just grown for food for each home, and if one ever sold it, it was just for a few kwachas,” says Phuthe.
Previously, sorghum yields ranged between 330 kg per hectare and 742 kilogrammes per hectare, agricultural experts say.
Now, some tonic has turned the yield to over 1,260 kilogrammes per hectare for some farmers and it is not longer just for household consumption.
That magic is in the Sorghum Production Enhancement Pilot Project which is being implemented in the Nsanje in the Magoti Extension Planning Area (EPA) in Traditional Authority Mbenje.
“Prior to the project, we never knew that we could apply fertiliser to sorghum and that from a very small plot, using improved sorghum seed breed, we could yield what previously could be a combined yield of the whole area,” says Loki, who currently also uses conservation agriculture in her small plot of land.
She says through this initiative, the farmers have learnt and become masters of conservation agriculture, a way to go in Nsanje which is known for its very high temperatures that leave the soil parched.
“We have now known how manure application can make a difference in enhancing yields; why mulching is so important in these arid areas and how planting improved seed varieties is more important than sticking to our traditional varieties – we did not just hear of this transformation, we are part of it,” says another farmer, Nelia Kanyemba.
The improved modern seed variety is Pilira 1 and the farmers prefer planting one seed per station, a method locally known as Sasakawa.
Under the pilot phase of the initiative, there are 100 farmer beneficiaries that have gone through the new technology drilling.
The 67 men and 33 women from Esnart, Sorgin and Kuyeri villages can now afford a smile over the transformation that they have gone through, courtesy of the Sorghum Production Enhancement Pilot Project.
Malawi is one of the 10 African countries implementing the Enhancement of National Agriculture Extension Services Project which is funded by the Korea-Africa Food and Agriculture Cooperation Initiative (Kafaci) under which the Sorghum Production Enhancement Pilot Project falls.
The 100 project beneficiaries are sub-divided into smaller groups of 20 farmers each; making a total of 5 sub-groups and 8 of them are lead farmers.
Siliro Magomero is National Coordinator for the Sorghum Production Enhancement Pilot project.
The lead farmers facilitate extension activities in collaboration with the official government extension workers. Thus, these farmers are helping to plug the gap in the numbers of government extension workers which are said to be in short supply while the need for the services on the ground grows.
Out of the lot, 20 farmers are currently carrying out Pilira I seed multiplication programme.
This seed multiplication activity has also enabled farmers like Phuthe to make additional cash which they have invested in other household requirements.
“The seed multipliers were selling the sorghum seed to NGO’s and other interested parties at a price of between K400 and K900 per kilogramme, which translates into a big reap of revenue,” says Magomero.
Doris Kennedy, Chair for Mwachedwa Ndandanda, a grouping of 39 sorghum growers, says their group went into the venture after observing the benefits which their fellows in the Sorgin Ndandanda [which is the initial pilot phase group], were reaping.
They did not wait to be lured into the group by government agriculture extension officers. The farmers approached their fellow farmers at the pilot phase and expressed interest to learn from them.
“Since we did that, life has not been the same; we have mastered the art of growing sorghum using the technologies that we never knew existed in the past; that is, applying fertiliser, manure, use of improved varieties – and we are seeing the change.
“The beauty is that our chiefs are very supportive of the initiative and so too are our colleagues that we learnt from,” says Kennedy.
And technocrats acknowledge too how the project has transformed households.
“I can say the project and the spill-over initiative has achieved its intended purposes despite the fact that this year we have had a terrible drought around Mbenje area, just like other Lower Shire areas,” says Shire Valley ADD Programme Manager Jerome Nkhoma.
He agrees that the project has helped in improvement of sorghum seed multiplication at community level. This ensures that improved seeds if available to whoever needs it.
“We commend Kefaci that through the project, they have assisted local farmers increase the application of recommended husbandry practices in sorghum. This has automatically helped increase yields abundantly.
“The project has also helped facilitate linkage of farmers to organised markets, hence fetching high prices and at the same time it has also enhanced farmer, extension and research linkages,” said Nkhoma.
Korean Ambassador to Malawi, Gwon Tong Gyu, was recently all smiles that the initiative which is linked to his government is bearing fruits.
“This is beyond my imagination. I am happy to see that the area supported by Korea is transforming and so are the well-beings of the beneficiaries. This initiative is being carried out as part of a collaborated cooperation of Korea and Malawi in the field of agriculture. It has done us proud,” he said in an interview.
That is, the transformation of Loki and her fellow farmers, who only few years ago were not sure where their next decent cloth would come from, has become a source of pride even to governments.
It might be that Nsanje, known for sorghum production in Malawi, is sowing seeds of its own green revolution – grain by grain.
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