Malawi farmers grow pulses for Indian market

Farmers in Malawi are shifting from their traditional crops to grow pulses to meet the increasing demand in India.

A Malawi businessman John Jimu Banda, who was in India to attend the CII-EXIM Bank India-Africa Business Conclave March 27-29, said that the Malawian government is encouraging farmers to grow more pulses to meet India's demand for the crop.

Apart from attending the meet, Banda intended to buy some equipment, but he is going back to his country with an export order for the supply of pigeon pea or tuar dal.

"There is a big demand for pigeon pea in India. I have got orders for supplying 1,000 tonnes of pigeon pea from two parties," he said. Malawi is already exporting about 50,000 tonnes of pulses to India, but there is "good scope for increasing the quantity", according to Banda.

"The government is putting emphasis on growing beans for the Indian market. It is telling farmers that there is a good market for the pulses abroad."

The Malawi government has sought assistance from India for producing new varieties, and for research and training in growing early-maturing and high-yielding varieties of pulses.

The main crop in Malawi is maize, tea and tobacco, but farmers also grew beans of various kinds. Tobacco, tea and sugarcane provided 70 percent of Malawi's export earnings till the international prices of tobacco crashed.

Since then the government has been encouraging growers to shift to other crops such as pulses, paprika, macadamia nuts and fruits.

Farmers in Malawi grow soya, pigeon pea, chick pea or garbanzo or chole, green gram (moong), white cow peas (lobiya) and red beans or kidney beans (rajma). The red beans are of two varieties - a small deep-red bean and a larger bean with a red-speckled skin. "The difference is only in the colour, the taste of both is the same," Banda said.

Banda was looking to buy extractor machinery to make soya milk from soya bean. "I have signed a contract with an engineering company for a machine with the capacity to make 500 litres of soya milk in a day," he said.

Banda started his company, J.J. Enterprise, in 2004 with agricultural exports, mainly exporting maize to Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Nyasa Times

Maize-legume based farming system study launched

A four year Sustainable Intensification of Maize - Legumes Cropping Systems for Food Security in Eastern and Southern Africa (SIMLESA) has been launched.

According to the Programme Leader Dr. Mulugetta Mekuria, the project that is funded by the Australian government at the tune of 20 million US dollars in five countries – Kenya , Ethiopia , Tanzania , Mozambique and Malawi is intended to increase food security.


“We intend to introduce improved technologies for sustainable growth in producing maize-legume based farming systems in the four countries where maize growing is popular with the local smallholders,” he noted during the opening of a meeting at a Nairobi.

Mekuria observed that plans are also at advance stage to improving markets and policies, partnerships and capacity building for the smallholder farmers. He said that project is set to benefit 500,000 farmers in the next 10 years and will also help the farmers drop monoculture agriculture.

Mekuria revealed that farmers will be involved fully in research through farmer groups as a way of sustaining the project amongst them.


“Under the project we intend to equip laboratories in the National Research Institutions and also train scientists for their PhD and Masters Programme,” he added.

CMMYT Deputy Director for Research and Partnerships Marianne Banziger said that Africa has the potential to increase maize productivity once the adoption of climate change resilient crops is taken seriously.

She called on the eastern and southern Africa countries to combine available technologies to optimize food production in increasing food production to help eradicate hunger in the region.

The four year project is collaboration between Australian Centre for Agricultural Research, CMMYT, national research institution from the five countries, the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (ASERECA) and the International Crops Research Institute for Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT).

Xinhua

Kenya: Can pigeon pea take the place of maize?

Faced with increasingly unreliable rains, farmers in Kenya's eastern district of Mbeere South have started growing drought-tolerant crops to meet their food and subsistence needs instead of the staple maize.

"The rains have become [scarce]... This is the fourth year we have had insufficient rain," Harrieta Nyaga, a farmer from the Rwika area, told IRIN. "We expected rains in March, but they came in January. People got confused, some planted, some did not... the crop was affected."

Nyaga, a mother of four, said she had planted 0.8ha of maize but was unsure whether she would harvest more than two 90kg bags. "Normally, I get up to 20 bags," she added.

Declining maize yields, due to climate variability and high fertilizer costs, have caused maize prices to soar. The cost of a bag has doubled to about 2,000 shillings (US$25) in the area.

Four new drought-tolerant pigeon pea varieties are being piloted in Mbeere, and specialists say the crop is hardy and can grow in a range of environments and cropping systems.

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics is providing farmers with free seeds.

"They select the preferred varieties and sizes," said Richard Jones, ICRISAT Eastern and Southern Africa assistant director. The selection is based on maturity times, plant height, stem thickness, amount of leaves, susceptibility to disease, cooking times and soil types.

Representatives from 30 farmers’ groups have been selected to pilot the project. Across Kenya, pigeon peas are being grown on about 196,261 ha of land, according to ICRISAT. Malawi, Uganda, Mozambique and Tanzania grow considerable quantities too.

"Depending on rainfall availability, one can harvest 750kg per 0.5ha," said Jones. The new varieties mature in about 120 days while the traditional varieties flower at the end of the long rains, growing to maturity from October to August.

"These new varieties are very elastic. Because they mature quicker, one gets a harvest even with just the short rains [October-December]... if there is more rain [the long rains] one gets a second rattoon [crop]," he said.

"Old varieties will not give you a crop until after the long rains [April-June]. If the long rains fail, then there is no harvest."

Nyaga said the uptake of the new varieties would be higher if pesticides were provided during the first planting. "The pesticides are very costly for a first-time farmer," she said.

Crushed dry pigeon pea seeds are also fed to animals, while the green leaves are quality fodder. The dry stems are used for fuel.

According to Jones of ICRISAT, the pigeon pea is a bonus crop, which can be grown alongside early maturing cereals while acting as a nitrogen fixer.

"I have not had to add manure or fertilizer like I would have for maize," said Carol Maringa, a farmer in Gachoka, adding that it was also not labour-intensive. She planned to increase her pigeon pea production.

"Even when I combine the cost of ploughing, seeds, weeding and spraying, I am still able to make a good profit," Samuel Mulinge Kyalo, 45, a farmer from Riakanau said.

According to Fred Njeru, Gachoka Division crops officer, food production in the division has fallen: "Now a big number of people are getting famine relief food and this is not sustainable."

The hardest-hit localities, he said, are selling their livestock and burning charcoal to meet their food requirements.

"We are encouraging farmers to adopt drought-tolerant crops, but this will take time," he said. "In the long term, farmers should plant drought-tolerant crops to not only meet their food requirements but also to get more income."

According to Jones of ICRISAT, there is a need to scale up planting of drought-tolerant crops.

In Eastern Kenya, about 20 percent of the farmers have adopted the new pigeon pea varieties, which have been developed using conventional breeding.

Already, there has been about 80 percent uptake in the eastern Makueni District. "Often, information does not move well," Jones noted. "It is like lighting a fire, it burns, then it goes out; you have to keep lighting many smaller fires."

IRIN

Kenyan farmers benefit from new ICRISAT-developed pigeon pea varieties

by Cathy Majtenyi

Scientists at an India-based institute are developing new varieties of pigeon pea, a high-protein dietary staple. In the eastern Kenyan district of Makueni, a research team is testing more than 40 varieties of pigeon pea that can also be grown in Tanzania, Malawi, and Mozambique.

Business is booming in Priscilla Mutie's shop in her eastern Kenyan village. Customers come from far and wide to buy the pigeon peas she grows on her 4-hectare farm.

She says selling these new varieties has made a world of difference to her. "My income has raised from the pigeon peas that I got from ICRISAT, because from it I am able to feed myself and my family," Mutie said. "The surplus I sell to my neighbors and that income has helped me purchase cattle, build myself a home, purchase decent clothing, and most importantly purchase a mobile phone that has helped me look for markets."

Mutie is one of a handful of farmers in Makueni District who are growing new varieties of pigeon peas being introduced to Kenya by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, or ICRISAT.

In Kenya, ICRISAT is growing more than 40 varieties of pigeon pea cross-bred to thrive in different altitudes, temperatures, rainfall, and other conditions. They also want a breed resistant to wilt, a disease that hits pigeon pea plants especially hard.

Farmers have cultivated pigeon pea in this East African nation for centuries. But traditional varieties tend to take about 10 months to mature.

Some of the new varieties being developed and tested in Kenya mature within five months of being planted, enabling farmers to have two or more harvests a year.

And that is good news for farmers such as Bernard Nzuma, who says that his family's food security has increased because of the new varieties that he grows.

"It resists the drought so there is food security. I'm able to have income and take care of the family needs. The pigeon pea leaves are good for improving the fertility of the soil. I use the leaves to feed my animals and also as fertilizer," Nzuma said.

Famine is a common occurrence in Kenya, where droughts and poor government planning cause frequent food shortages.

Maize, considered to be the key crop in Kenya, does not flourish in times of drought.

But pigeon pea grows well in dry times, says scientist Said Silim, director of ICRISAT's Eastern and Southern Africa program.

He says that even maize yields can improve if the maize is grown next to pigeon peas. "It (pigeon pea) is a multiple purpose crop. It is drought tolerant. When other crops fail, the crop itself fixes nitrogen from the air making it into fertilizer that it uses and what is left is used by your maize," Silim said.

Pigeon pea is also a nutritious food source for low-income earners

"It is a poor man's meat. It is high in protein and is very nutritious, actually," he adds. "We work in Eastern Kenya with orphans, some of who are HIV/AIDS infected, and they gained weight by using protein," Silim said.

And people like the new varieties, says farmer and businesswoman Mutie.

"They say that the ICRISAT peas are fairly large and tasty. They have a lovely color that is consistent," Mutie states.

Silim says he and his team are researching ways to increase yields within the varieties and are looking at how to expand the harvesting of the new varieties beyond Makueni District.

VOA

High-protein pigeon pea is ideal for drought-hit farmers

by Jim Lobe

Agricultural researchers are reporting a major breakthrough in the development of a new, high-yielding variety of pigeonpea, a protein-rich legume that can be grown in marginal lands and is highly resistant to drought.

Pigeonpea is particularly important in areas where high-protein foods are scarce, including India, where it is often cooked as dal, eastern and southern Africa, the Caribbean and Burma. It currently provides between 20 and 22 percent of the protein in most countries where it is grown extensively.

Called "Pushkal," the new variety is the world’s first commercially available hybrid legume, according to William Dar, director-general of the India-based International Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), which is part of an international consortium of agricultural research centres based at the World Bank.

"With 40 percent higher yields than the best local varieties, Pushkal is truly the magic pea," Dar said, noting that the new variety’s low cost should result in a major expansion in its cultivation. Currently, pigeonpea is grown on nearly five million hectares worldwide.

"Our efforts in eastern and southern Africa have established an active pigeonpea research programme that has already resulted in the release and adoption of improved varieties," he said. "African farmers are reaping the benefits from improved food security and enhanced incomes from the new varieties."

Developing new hybrids of crops that can survive and even thrive despite the projected impact of climate change has moved increasingly to the top of the international-development agenda, particularly since last year when prices for food commodities, including corn, wheat, soy beans, and rice hit record highs.

The World Bank and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, among other major donors, have directed a growing proportion of their funding toward agricultural research and development, especially in Africa, the world’s poorest region and the one least affected by what has been called the "Green Revolution."

While the sharp drop in oil prices since last summer has brought food prices down as well, experts here warn that the relief may only be temporary. According to a new forecast by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), average prices will remain relatively higher in the coming year than during 2006 and 2007, when prices began their climb.

"This is going to be again a tough year (for poor countries)," USDA’s chief economist, Joseph Glauber, told the Financial Times.

Like other food commodities, pigeonpea prices also increased substantially during last year’s price spike, thus reducing the protein intake of millions of people who could not afford them.

ICRISAT has been working in India since 1974 but was unable to develop high-yielding commercial varieties of pigeonpea, or any other legume, because its self-pollinating nature. After 30 years of research, scientists there developed a stable cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) line that made it possible to breed a hybrid.

"This new technology helped us break the yield barrier that has plagued Indian agriculture for the past five decades," according to K.B. Saxena, IRCISAT’s principal pigeonpea breeder.

After successful testing by poor farmers in India, private and public seed companies began producing large quantities of Pushkal seeds that so far have been planted on some 5,000 hectares. Saxena, however, predicts that planting will expand quickly due to the large number of companies that are involved in the distribution and the seeds’ low cost.

Plants and seeds developed by ICRISAT and the 14 other research centres that make up the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) are not patented.

The new hybrid technology has generated interest form a number of other countries, besides India, including Burma, Brazil, the Philippines, and China.

Pushkal, however, is not appropriate for Africa, where pigeonpeas are white, larger, and the whole seeds are cooked, in contrast to Indian pigeonpeas where small, brown split peas are preferred.

"India pigeonpea hybrids don’t adapt well to conditions in Africa, where altitude, climate, soil condition and rainfall are quite different," according to Said Silim, ICRISAT’s regional director for eastern and southern Africa. Moreover, African pigeonpeas are particularly susceptible to wilt disease, so ICRISAT had to identify varieties that were especially resistant to wilt.

And, due to wide variations in temperature, climate and light in the region, researchers focused on developing specific varieties for specific regions. "We developed niche varieties, knowing what we were targeting," said Silim.

In Tanzania, for example, ICRISAT developed high-yield, wilt-resistant varieties that cook quickly and have the taste and aroma favoured by the local population.

It has also developed varieties in Africa preferred by Indian consumers. Their growth cycle is timed so that they can be exported between May and October when India faces a pigeonpea shortage, thus providing local farmers with more income on crops that can be harvested twice a year.

ICRISAT is also promoting the cultivation of pigeonpeas beyond regions where they have been most popular, particularly in areas with mono-culture crops. It has accumulated evidence that intercropping with pigeonpeas makes both crops more productive.

IPS