There is currently a lot of excitement in Malawi about prospects of industrial hemp as a commercial and export crop for the country. The Ministry of Agriculture is currently running trial production of the crop at Chitedze Research Station in Lilongwe while Parliament last week approved a private member\u2019s bill supporting legalisation of the crop.<\/p>\n
Indeed Malawi requires a variety of crops that can provide opportunities for commercial farming and exports on a large scale and earn the country the much needed foreign exchange. And industrial hemp can be one of them.<\/p>\n
What is misleading, however, are assertions that once Malawi starts cultivating industrial hemp, all its economic problems will be over. The belief that industrial hemp could bring economic miracles to Malawi is grossly an illusion.<\/p>\n
While no single crop would ever replace tobacco as Malawi\u2019s main commercial and export crop, pigeon peas actually has a bigger potential to become a bigger export crop for the country than industrial hemp.<\/p>\n
The claims by hemp activists are often exaggerated. Industrial hemp is indeed a useful and highly versatile crop. But its utility is, for the most part, fairly marginal, at least going by existing markets and estimates around the world.<\/p>\n
Demand for hemp isn\u2019t as high as proponents would have it. In Europe, demand has been on the decline for several years as buyers have increasingly opted for cheaper or better alternatives\u2014mostly artificial fibres, for many applications.<\/p>\n
In the Unites States, imports of hemp-based products \u2014 many of them from China \u2014 have been legal since 1998. But the total retail market for hemp in the United States is only about $500 million and the market is widely not expected to grow much further.<\/p>\n
Even the US Department of Agriculture believes the market potential for hemp will remain small \u201clike those for sesame and poppy seeds.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hemp is therefore not the trillion-dollar crop that could finally allow Malawians grow money on trees. And it will take some time and a lot of work for the regulatory environmental and market structures to facilitate proper handling of the crop.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, Malawi already grows a number of crops that have huge potential on the export market and only require a little more organisation and motivation for the farmer. Pigeon pea is one of such crops.<\/p>\n
The production of this crop is largely concentrated around the Indian subcontinent and east Africa, with Malawi currently rated as the largest producer in Africa while Tanzania is the largest exporter on the continent.<\/p>\n
According to the India Pulses and Grain Association, however, most of the pigeon peas exported by Tanzania are from Malawi and this is because of Malawi\u2019s failure to control informal exports across its borders.<\/p>\n
With consumers become increasingly conscious about nutrition and concerns about animal-proteins emerging, legumes such as pigeon peas are gaining importance in healthy food habits. This is making the market for legumes like pigeon peas wider.<\/p>\n
According to Food and Agriculture Organisation, production of pigeon peas has been on an upward trend over the past decade, with India as the largest producer at 70 percent of global production followed by Myanmar, producing more than 20 percent of global production. Africa accounts for the majority of the remaining production, with Malawi leading at 6 percent of global production, Kenya and Uganda at two percent each while Tanzania accounts only for 0.8 percent of global production.<\/p>\n
The largest market for pigeon peas is also in India where demand is also increasing, although the area under cultivation and the yields have remained stagnant, with some downtrend shown in recent years.<\/p>\n
India now imports pigeon peas from Africa and Myanmar, with estimates showing that the country requires 500,000 metric tonnes of imports annually to satisfy its domestic requirements.<\/p>\n
Although it is not one of the major producers, Tanzania is Africa biggest exporter of pigeon peas to India and its varieties are considered the best in India.<\/p>\n
Shockingly though is the fact most of the pigeon peas from Tanzania is actually from Malawi which is also considered another good source of pigeon peas into India, with annual shipments estimated at between 50,000 and 100,000 metric tonnes.<\/p>\n
Malawi can therefore easily become a major producer and exporter of pigeon peas if authorities only found ways of formalising exports while working with farmers to increase production and yields. On the other hand, it will take ages for Industrial Hemp to reach the potential pigeon peas already offers to Malawi.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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