Experts urge higher wheat production
Malawi Agriculture Policy Advancement and Transfrmation Agenda (MwAPATA) Institute has urged government to take advantage of the megafarms plan to scale up production of wheat, a crop they say has huge economic potential.
This is contained in the latest policy brief the agriculture think tank has released which reveals policy gaps hindering wheat production.
The brief also demonstrates how government is not walking the talk on crop diversification as it remains over-reliant on maize, which is doing little to improve the country’s fortunes despite the huge investment.
Reads the policy brief in part: “Malawi does not have a national wheat development policy and strategy. Agricultural policies are biased on supporting the production of maize, leaving out other important cereals like wheat.
“This provides little incentive to invest in wheat production. Policy support in the form of providing access to financing for acquisition of good quality certified seed and fertilisers by farmers would boost production and productivity.”
In an interview, one of the two researchers for the policy brief Anderson Gondwe said they hope government will use the recommendations and develop a policy supporting wheat farming to tap on the highlighted gains.
He said: “The Russia-Ukraine war presents Malawi with a market opportunity as Ukraine is currently the main source of wheat.”
On his part, MwAPATA executive director William Chadza said they intend to embark on an analysis of the agriculture public expenditure in Malawi to understand the extent to which expenditure is aligned to crop diversification and the Malawi2063 development Agenda.
In a telephone interview, Professor Moses Maliro of Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources said their studies have shown that wheat is a cool-weather crop, it can be grown in the country depending on seed variety.
He said: “In the past three years, we have been doing studies in partnership with Nottingham University on varieties which can do better and where they can do better.”
Minister of Agriculture Sam Kawale asked for more time to respond to our questionnaire.
The lack of attention on wheat comes in the face of the country’s National Export Strategy (2021-2026) which highlights the need to promote crop diversification for improved exports.
The MwAPATA report shows that in the 2021/22 growing season out of the potential 30 000 hectares on which wheat can be grown only 187 hectares was used.
