Icraf promoting quality fruit nurseries

For years, Malawians have been whining about the influx of imported fruits on the market, especially in chain stores.

After years of nurturing tree seedlings in an uninformed way, a consensus is gaining ground in the country to put nursery operators under tighter scrutiny for quality fruit.

Championing the move, the World Agro-forestry Centre (Icraf) is training some businesspeople in nursery management, registration and certificate to ensure the seedlings are up to standard.

This ground-breaking initiative entails the beneficiaries voluntarily registering their nurseries for periodic inspection to uphold a set of requirements aimed at ensuring quality seedlings, said Icraf programme manager Bruce Sosola in Mzuzu on Thursday.

He said the optional certification measure will give way to mandatory inspections as soon as government adopts the revised version of the National Seed Policy (1993), which is still in draft form.

The old policy is often faulted for placing emphasis on food and cash crops. The ongoing policy review, therefore, seeks to achieve increased agricultural productivity, food security, job creation, poverty alleviation and biodiversity by regulating the production and development of trees on the farm right from the nursery.

“Icraf, with funding from the Irish Government, saw a gap in the quality of planting materials on the market. Through these trainings, we want to create a cadre of nursery operators who will produce impeccable seedlings that meet minimum standards and we expect government to support the certification process by enforcing the minimum standards of nurseries,” said Sosola.

The centre is running the agro-forestry to achieve food security in five districts, including Kasungu and Mzimba, with emphasis on trees for fuel, food, fertiliser and fodder.

In an interview, Amon Phiri, horticultural officer in the Department of Crop Development in the Ministry  of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development, said the Icraf initiative represents a major step towards setting and entrenching standard in an industry where the majority of operators seem to know no dos and don’ts.

“Government and its partners have spent years introducing nurseries of fruit trees and other trees, but we have done little or nothing to ensure standards,” said Phiri.

He said the policy review, if completed, will help safeguard the main losers—the customers who are oftentimes tricked to buy seedlings that are poorly raised, stunted, diseased, unlabelled and unviable.