How Malawi farmers have found market for their bumper maize produce
Sep 14, 2010
UNTIL 2007, Malawi experienced food shortages every year. After a government push to promote maize growing, the country realised a bumper harvest that it has sustained.
Market Guide
By Joshua Kato
UNTIL 2007, Malawi experienced food shortages every year. After a government push to promote maize growing, the country realised a bumper harvest that it has sustained.
“We had faced several months of hunger and famine, we finally had enough in our farms,†says Eugene Chipola, a farmer from the Melange region of Malawi.
“But then came the hard part, marketing the produce.
“Every person near me had produced maize which meant that there was no market within the vicinity,†he says.
Malawi is lauded as an African food security success story. However, marketing the increasingly bumper produce was becoming a problem. Just like the case is in Uganda, Chipola’s scenario was no different from what happened in Uganda a year ago, when there was a bumper harvest of not only maize, but also other foods. As it turned out, production was the easier part and marketing became the hardest one.
A few months ago, however, an agricultural commodity exchange market was introduced in Malawi to ease agricultural produce marketing constraints. Across the border in Zambia, one had been set up earlier.
“This may not be the final solution to agricultural marketing problems, but it has reduced the gap between the farmers in the villages and the buyers in the towns,†says Brian Tembo from the Zambia Commodity Exchange Market.
In Malawi and Zambia, the major commodity is maize. However, there is also wheat, soya and sunflower which is grown on a small scale.
In Uganda, a similar scheme would have many more products, including coffee, cotton, beans, bananas, potatoes, cassava etc.
According to Ian Goggin of the Malawi Agricultural Commodity Exchange, an Agricultural Commodity Exchange Market is a forum were farmers, brokers and buyers easily meet to sell and buy their produce.
The major difference with the common market like Nakasero which also deals in agriculture produce is that while the produce in Nakasero is put on a truck and ferried to the market, here the farmer lists what product he is selling and puts it on the exchange board.
“It is simple,†explains Brian Tembo from the Zambia Agricultural Commodity Exchange Market. “Farmers who have products to sell put their product on the exchange from where they can easily be seen by buyers,†he added.
For example, a Kisenyi maize buyer would not have to drive all the way to Mbale or Kibaale looking for maize to buy. All that he would do is go to an agriculture commodity exchange market in the centre of town, look at the exchange board (in many cases in Malawi and Zambia are LG screens that indicate the prices, tonnage and location of the product) then decide which one to buy. The Kisenyi dealer will have a variety of products to choose from, without necessarily going to their farms or stores in the villages.
The Alliance for Commodity Trade in East and Central Africa (ACTESA) an arm of COMESA encourages member countries to embrace the scheme. ACTESA Chief Executive Officer, Chris Muyunda, says agricultural commodity markets are the way to go. “We encourage COMESA member states to embrace commodity exchange schemes as they lessen the burden of agricultural trade,†he says.
Muyunda, however, says the key to improved marketing is to ensure that the quality of the produce is good because “this is what the market wants†.The exchanges have brought both farmers and consumers nearer to one another through information flow.
“Since the telephone numbers are also listed, deals are struck long before the traders drives to the village to pick the produce,†says Tembo. When Harvest Money visited the exchange market in Lilongwe, there were many tonnes of maize listed on the exchange board.
On that particular day, however, there was only one buyer, the World Food Programme (WFP). However according to Ian Goggin, regular dealers at the exchange come from all over the region.
By Joshua Kato
UNTIL 2007, Malawi experienced food shortages every year. After a government push to promote maize growing, the country realised a bumper harvest that it has sustained.
“We had faced several months of hunger and famine, we finally had enough in our farms,†says Eugene Chipola, a farmer from the Melange region of Malawi.
“But then came the hard part, marketing the produce.
“Every person near me had produced maize which meant that there was no market within the vicinity,†he says.
Malawi is lauded as an African food security success story. However, marketing the increasingly bumper produce was becoming a problem. Just like the case is in Uganda, Chipola’s scenario was no different from what happened in Uganda a year ago, when there was a bumper harvest of not only maize, but also other foods. As it turned out, production was the easier part and marketing became the hardest one.
A few months ago, however, an agricultural commodity exchange market was introduced in Malawi to ease agricultural produce marketing constraints. Across the border in Zambia, one had been set up earlier.
“This may not be the final solution to agricultural marketing problems, but it has reduced the gap between the farmers in the villages and the buyers in the towns,†says Brian Tembo from the Zambia Commodity Exchange Market.
In Malawi and Zambia, the major commodity is maize. However, there is also wheat, soya and sunflower which is grown on a small scale.
In Uganda, a similar scheme would have many more products, including coffee, cotton, beans, bananas, potatoes, cassava etc.
According to Ian Goggin of the Malawi Agricultural Commodity Exchange, an Agricultural Commodity Exchange Market is a forum were farmers, brokers and buyers easily meet to sell and buy their produce.
The major difference with the common market like Nakasero which also deals in agriculture produce is that while the produce in Nakasero is put on a truck and ferried to the market, here the farmer lists what product he is selling and puts it on the exchange board.
“It is simple,†explains Brian Tembo from the Zambia Agricultural Commodity Exchange Market. “Farmers who have products to sell put their product on the exchange from where they can easily be seen by buyers,†he added.
For example, a Kisenyi maize buyer would not have to drive all the way to Mbale or Kibaale looking for maize to buy. All that he would do is go to an agriculture commodity exchange market in the centre of town, look at the exchange board (in many cases in Malawi and Zambia are LG screens that indicate the prices, tonnage and location of the product) then decide which one to buy. The Kisenyi dealer will have a variety of products to choose from, without necessarily going to their farms or stores in the villages.
The Alliance for Commodity Trade in East and Central Africa (ACTESA) an arm of COMESA encourages member countries to embrace the scheme. ACTESA Chief Executive Officer, Chris Muyunda, says agricultural commodity markets are the way to go. “We encourage COMESA member states to embrace commodity exchange schemes as they lessen the burden of agricultural trade,†he says.
Muyunda, however, says the key to improved marketing is to ensure that the quality of the produce is good because “this is what the market wants†.The exchanges have brought both farmers and consumers nearer to one another through information flow.
“Since the telephone numbers are also listed, deals are struck long before the traders drives to the village to pick the produce,†says Tembo. When Harvest Money visited the exchange market in Lilongwe, there were many tonnes of maize listed on the exchange board.
On that particular day, however, there was only one buyer, the World Food Programme (WFP). However according to Ian Goggin, regular dealers at the exchange come from all over the region.