CLIMATE CHANGE ARRIVES IN MALAWI: Hope its not here to Stay.....

Two beautiful faces of climate change have taken Malawi by surprise this year; high temperatures and delayed or should I call them misplaced rains. In Malawi we usually experience high temperatures in October but this year we were awakened to RAINS in the first quarter of the month. It was unbelievable but the rains kept haunting us until two weeks later. The conclusion was, we will now be experiencing early rains.. Our observation was however very wrong because when November came ( the month when we usually experience rains) it was dry all over, the temperatures were extremely hot and unbearable. The Southern part of Malawi which mostly get rains first followed by the Central and the North got their first rains towards the end of November which was very late. The rains skipped the pattern again, most of the central region was dry as the North received some rains and every Jim and Jack calls this climate change.

As I write now, in the south, some parts have planted their crops and so is the Centre and the North but many other places in all regions but most especially the Centre have not planted any crop. To add insult to injury this year the subsidy programme was scaled down and few smallholder farmers have benefited from the programme. And the question that keeps lingering peoples minds is: With delayed or misplaced rains and lack of fertilizer, what kind of Malawi will we have next year? Me don’t know!!!!!

Recently a go-Green campaign was launched in the country to sensitize the nation on climate change and how to combat its effects.... I don’t know how far it has gone in educating people especially considering that it has been launched at a time when the effects are already there. Conservation agriculture is one such strategy... But how do a farmer practice this when they had already gotten the mulch out of the farm before the campaign came in... I for one expect the campaign to yield results next year not this year (just thinking aloud because maybe it will).

In all this my Prayer is; Yes it has come, we can not deny its arrive but Hope its not here to stay!!!

FINDING THE PLACE OF ICT IN MALAWIAN AGRICULTURAL MARKETING

Malawi’s economy is heavily dependent on agriculture with tobacco, sugar and tea as the three most important export earners. Agriculture represents 39% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP); accounting for about 80% of all export.  The development goal of Malawi’s Government in the agricultural sector is to improve productivity and profitability especially among smallholder farmers. It is for this reason that by the year 2020, Malawi envisions a high level of agricultural productivity that ensures equity in household food security, income and employment and sustainable utilization of natural resources, (Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, 2007). Available statistics show that the smallholder subsector contributes around 25% of the total GDP, employs 95% of the total agricultural labour force, and  almost 70% percent of agricultural produce in Malawi comes from smallholder farmers (Malawi Government, 2004; World Bank, 2006).

Regardless of the splendid statistics regarding smallholder farmers, the group has been/is  vulnerable to exploitation. Amidst this cloud, how is improved productivity and profitability expected to be achieved? The Malawi government implemented several policies that were aimed at improving smallholder farmers’ access to the markets. Such interventions included price decontrol, market liberalization and restructuring of the country’s marketing board, the Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMARC) (Tollen, 2006 and Phiri, 2006). However, in these policies little was done on the part of the farmers’ access to market information services. As a result there were more observable inefficiencies in both input and output markets. Some of these inefficiencies included: long chains of transaction between farmer and consumer; low incomes for farmers; higher costs to consumers; greater risk for traders; high transaction costs; high wastage and low competitiveness in Malawi (Tollen, 2006). This led to a market failure problem called information failure, consequently creating room for Information and Communication Technology (ICT)[1] to solve the problem.  Now here its place is found, but of what importance is it to Malawi’s agricultural marketing?

To address the above question, I will give a case of woman tomato marketer whom I know and have interacted with. I follow her story from before ICTs usage to now when she uses what she calls he greatest companion( her mobile phone).

Stay on board with me as I bring her story in my next posting............

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[1] One prominent project advocating for ICT development in Malawi is the Initiative for Development and Equity in African Agriculture (IDEAA).

STANDING ON ONE FOOT IS BETTER DEPENDING ON HOW LONG THE FOOT CAN HOLD YOU: The Case of Tobacco Sector in Malawi

In every Malawian related agriculture article the opening sentence has over the years been: Malawi’s economy heavily depends on Agriculture and the three most important export earners are tobacco, sugar and tea. Tobacco has over the years been a prominent contributor to the economy; it employs over 50% of the agriculture population and contributes 80% to the agriculture related GDP to the economy. Three years ago I came across an article whose title caught my attention. The title read; “Standing on one foot is better than none” and this was referring to the benign role  the tobacco sector plays towards the country’s economy. Today, more is left desired whether this is still true or its something the government should comfortably rely upon. Three years down the line after I read that article, the tobacco sector’s performance has (especially on the market) been a misery and economically I guess there are more negative implications that this article is going to articulate.

Last year..... 2010

Having been privileged to study my Master of Science Degree in Agricultural and Applied Economics, I took it to myself that I should do a thesis of this economy driving sector. I embarked on an “Impact study of Contract Marketing[1] on the Profitability and Production of Smallholder Tobacco Farmers in Lilongwe[2]”. Theoretically, the arrangement has more advantages than there are disadvantages to the smallholder farmer as well as the sponsoring company and thus my hypotheses were based on the fact that the arrangement has positive implications wherever applied. In Malawi the arrangement is applied extensively in tobacco and was at one time tried in groundnuts. Considering that tobacco as earlier said, has been an economy driving sector, my confidence to accept my hypotheses rose. But what I learnt and got through my study was shocking (allow me to use this subjective word)! The arrangement had flaws right from the beginning to the end. The clauses were not clearly spelt and therefore potentially disadvantaged the poor-illiterate farmers ( Most smallholder farmers in Malawi fall in this category). The famers in this first case blindly signed the contracts with a blurred understanding. Coming to the market the contracts were grossly violated and the farmer had no say whatsoever. The farmers got the same price or even lower compared to the one gotten by farmers following the customary[3] channel of selling tobacco. In addition, the agreed quota was not bought and farmers were left with unsold tobacco bales which they would later resort to sale through the customary system. Would I be wrong to call that shameful on the part of the contracted farmer in the face of the non-contracted farmer? I guess not, because even a random sample of non-contracted tobacco farmers which I interviewed were at one point contracted and spoke strongly rather vehemently against the arrangement and would not recommend anyone to participate.

I got frustrated at their revelations and I prepared myself for tough times if my results indicated positive implications. The revelations were not long to be proved. From the analysis, with the application of econometric and statistical models, the arrangement  indicated negative impact on both production and profit levels. To make sure I was not jeopardizing the growth agribusiness strategies as regards tobacco, I contacted a few people working closely around the arrangement and similar sentiments were aired and they went further to tell me why this was so: The arrangement is stagnating at infancy and the environment[4] is not entirely conducive for its promotion. The prices are also getting lower by season.

This Year 2011.......

I was still in dilemma why the tobacco sector could produce such results when this year it got more shocking....! Tobacco production and marketing is under untold threat, Was this real? I thought and it was. The lowering of production levels was expected considering how tobacco faired on the market last year ( the cob-web effect) and the anti-smoking lobbies which have been on the rise, but now why low prices again? Politics, politics and politics and I guess the anti-smoking campaigns. The buyers were at one time asked to pack and go because of the lower prices they were offering. The severing of our ties with the British government worsened the situation; prices went and have gone down up to now, there have been high reoffer rates and according to the Tobacco Control Commission of Malawi sales have gone down by over 50% from last year ( more than shocking I guess and objectively so).

Any room for diversification?....

This is not a new concept in agriculture development in the country and it has been talked of over and over again but the foot called the tobacco has hindered its implementation. Cotton farmers have over the years been crying over lower prices they receive for the crop. This year the story was different; low supply and higher prices. Going back to cob-web effect of prices, we expect more farmers to grow cotton this year and to some extent diversify away fro tobacco.

Having noticed the above explained trend in the two years my conclusion is: How long one can stand one foot (as the article I read put it) depends on how long the foot can hold you, otherwise you are as good as not standing at all (In the case of Malawi, how long the tobacco sector can sustain or maintain being an economy driving sector depends on how immune it can stand against political and policy lobbies levelled against it).

Check me out as I continue bringing you the issues roaming the agriculture sector in Malawi.

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[1] An arrangement when the producer and the established buyer of a commodity make an undertaking to do the sell of the commodity before delivery of the produce. The agreement can either be in a written and signed contract, a verbal contract or an implied contract.

[2] Lilongwe happens to be the country’s Capital City and one of the predominant tobacco growing districts.

[3] There is an Auction floor where every farmer can sell tobacco. Selling through the contracts is a choice made by an individual farmer or a group of farmers.

[4] The contractors for fear of risking cannot provide the farmers with inputs and/ or guarantee them pre-arranged prices in case things do not work as planned.

ICTs in Malawi amidst the Fuel and Forex Crisis

Amidst the Fuel and Forex crises which have hit Malawi's Economy, ICTs have been a MUST embrace not an option...For a car owner or business person to know when and where to get the two Fs, they must have either left their contacts with the gas station attendants (or bureau persons if its forex) or have Facebook or twitter accounts from where they are getting the updates from. I have seen ICTs doing a tremendous job in Agriculture and some other sectors, but a new face they have worn in directing the forces of demand and supply of these two important resources has sounded a very dangerous alarm.

It may sound laughable but men and women of over 50 years have resorted to having Facebook and twitter accounts just for the sake of making sure they are abreast with the flow of the scarce resources.. Younger persons resorted to informing each other through Social networks because it is easier that way as most of them have accounts and that sidelined the 20th Century generations. And what would they do? Open theirs as well.... One Facebook  status that caught my attention read: A tanker of I dont know whether its Diesel or petrol is being offloaded at Chitipi filling Station, Hurry While stocks last. Before we got there the que was already the longest. The speed of reaching at such a place depends on how frequent you stay online. This situation has read to branding the rulling party as Diesel, Petrol Palibe (DPP) which literary means both Diesel and Petrol are not there.

My interest goes back to ICTs and I have learnt that its power should not be underrated and limited to certain sectors... And I love the commotion, cellphones in hands, everyone rushing to the gas stations and WOW! the Long ques are like there are holding celebrations say Wedding....

Am yet to know where Malawi is heading to but will keep you posted when I get some idea...

...Was that all? Check this out!

Witchcraft as Mr Chisenga calls has refused to let us go! Imagine working on the same document at the same time, doing the editing while you watch where the other is editing, chat, change the document to another form like PDF, isnt that magical? Web2.0 hasnt ceased to amaze me and I know this feeling will last.... They call this Google Docing....or isnt it?

Have got so many usernames, and yes passwords and my right index finger hurts.. Tha tappings have been too much.. I have never worked this long on a computer for a week before... Isnt this enduring the transition? You bet so! Rebeka is enjoying all this to the bone and proudly feels she can apply this specifically to her field, related fields and crosscutting issues... You needed to see her evaluation form....

Friday will take us through the exchange programme...Yeah, we ought to share as you never know who faces and/or  faced similar  problems to yours and how they deal and/dealt with them...

Thereafter, the cultural centre.... This I have to see first lest I start lying and the Chinese Restaurant Visist,,,,, Chip, chop xxxxxx... guess I keep up to the food and the eating method... I will have to cope with all this when I get there,,,,

Will keep you posted... And you follow me to Malawi because my "transit" continues.........

Thursday ends with PING, Mozillabird and PBworks....

...........I am Pinging, pinging and pinging!!!!!!! A day cannot end any better than this.. With Ping I can now send a single post and all my facebook friends, my fellow twitts and bloggists are informed... Isnt this magic, I think and this makes my transition fantastic....

Mozillabird is another magic, you can read your mails comfortably.. from your email here they come and you can read them. Do I need internet connection? From what I got No, but need to find out... uhhmmmm....

And the transitor also proudly says she can do more than Wiki. She can now individualize her Wiki (Personalize it, thats the word they are using), add writers, Editors and Readers to her list.... Tihs is getting more than super!!!! Not only to me but as you follow me you will also find this superb!!!!

......... And Rebeka can Wiki Wiki... I love this

Its the fourth day in the Web2.0 training session and guess what? Rebekah can Wiki! I have ever read Wikipedia notes, sometimes edited and more often used the information. All along was ever surprised why I couldnt get the authors name and I could reference them as unknown and undated (Too Bad, or isnt it?).. Today, the 10th March, my question has clearly been answered. No name of authors, all we do is collaborate, collaborate, share, edit and yeah, have arguements to enrich our knowldge. I like everything about it... Justin is really doing it. Along the same line blogging continues, editting and making it flowery and its looking fabulous in the eyes of the author and hope in your eyes too.

And I cannot forget my KAYCO facebook profile... Cant get a good picture to put on it but I know I will before friday.. Just check me out!

Later

Accra Ghana- So I can Twitt, do advanced facebooking and Blog! Hey hey!!

Its my fourth day in Ghana and my third day in the Web2.0 for Dev class. I love it! I can now twitt and blog and facebook. And you may be surprised if I never facebooked before, I do, but I was surprised at what facebook is beyond what I know i.e. beyond chatting, posting entries and knwowing others birthdays.

Rebeka can also blog! wow! I am more than happy that someone can search and find me somewhere as writer of my story. For your information I am Malawian where specialization is greatly embraced. The twitting, blogging and advanced facebooking is left to Information Technology(IT) specialist and as an Agricultural Economist I only do my Economics stuff. Frankly, I have ever heard of the twitting and blogging and the questions I had were what for? and so what? Why? firstly because I am not an IT student and secondly because I didnt know what importance they had and how much it would cost me to have such an account ( taking into consideration that internet costs in Malawi are exorbitant).

But now here I am, I can do it at the snap of my finger, twitting, blogging, controlling my facebook account, "WHAT A TRANSITION". I am even about calling myself: Economist cum IT Specialist.Twitt-facebooking was also there, new aah! but I can do it now.. That was not all for the day, remember on Tuesday I told you about RSS and Drop box? They came again in colour: RSS in facebook and I should guess in twitter as well, Dropping the folders while I work on them, share and have Fun!!!

As if that was not enough, Rebeka created a facebook for her a Community Organizatio to be based in her Village; Kaporo Youth Community Organization (KAYCO).... I like this! Its still under modification and so will talk much about it later in the day or tomorrow because the transition goes on....

Keep in touch with me and you will luv my transit......