University of Malawi (Unima) Centre for Resilient Agri-foods Systems (Crafs) and Tehirah Bakery have trained farmers from Zomba and Blantyre in sweet potato production.
The training, which focused on how to prevent post-harvest losses in potato production, also tackled storage and value addition as key areas.
training. | Kondwani Kamiyala
Speaking during the training at the Ministry of Agriculture’s Lunzu Rural Training Centre in Blantyre, Unima associate professor in food science Victoria Ndolo, who is also Crafs deputy academic leader, challenged the farmers from traditional authorities Kunthembwe and Chikowi in Blantyre and Zomba districts to rethink how they treat their harvest.
“Farmers should normalise reserving part of their harvest for household consumption rather than putting everything up for sale. Drought-resilient crops such as sweet potatoes are key in mitigating climate change shocks, reducing hunger and improving people’s lives,” she said.
Tehirah Bakery director Jean Pankuku said sweet potatoes can help avert hunger as was the case when the country experienced acute maize shortages last growing season.
“But farmers must learn how to properly take care of the crop by selecting the right varieties, tending their nurseries and crop in the field, storage and adding value to it,” she said.
The farmers learned how to make orange-freshed sweet potato flour, which in turn can be used to produce cakes, bread, doughnuts, fritters and other snacks instead of marketing the crop when it is in abundance.
The training brought farmer club and cooperative members from the two districts.
