How plenty is costing Jenda

In the middle of booming businesses at Jenda Trading Centre in Mzimba are gloomy faces because the farmers’ toils and hard work to produce plenty for profit has cost them dearly. While they have tried many times to add value to their produce, many problems stand in the way. JOHN CHIRWA writes.

A 2011 Microloan Foundation study conducted at Jenda Trading Centre in Mzimba found that farmers allocate more land to tomato, onion and Irish potato production than any other crop.

This, according to the research, has resulted in over-supply because farmers produce more of the crops than the market can take.

This is reflected in Moses Zimba’s misfortune last October when he lost 300 baskets of his produce.

“There is a huge supply of tomato during the dry season and this affects prices which go down from K7 000 (US$17) to as low as K2 000 (US$5) per basin.

“We have no choice but to reduce the prices because tomatoes are in abundance during such periods. At times, we are desperate to get rid of them since tomatoes are perishable produce.

“This business is a thankless endeavour. We don’t make profits. Farm inputs such as fertiliser, seeds, pesticides and labour are very expensive, and yet our prices are low. This makes it difficult for us to support our families. But there is nothing we can do because we depend solely on tomato farming,” said Zimba.

According to the Microloan study, on average, a farmer uses one hectare to cultivate tomatoes, 0.5 hectares for onions and a hectare or less for potatoes. Reported tomato yields were six metric tonnes from one hectare; onion was at three tonnes from 0.5 hectares while for potatoes it was at 7.5 tonnes per hectare.

Farmers at Jenda are part of the 85 percent of Malawians who depend on agriculture for food security and economic livelihoods, according to the 2009 report by the National Statistical Office (NSO).

This is the reason agriculture forms the backbone of the country’s economy. It is estimated that the agricultural sector accounts for 40 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 80 percent of export earnings, says the 2010 Agriculture Sector Wide Approach (Aswap) report.

To highlight the importance of agriculture for the country’s economy, the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS II) has identified it as one of the building blocks for sustainable economic growth. The theme seeks to enhance agricultural productivity and food varieties by increasing value addition to agricultural products and strengthening the linkages of farmers to markets.

Tomatoes and onions are referred to in the Aswap report as an important source of nutrition and a key factor for improved smallholder incomes.

Improving both the number and quality of small-scale agro-processing units is a target of Aswap. For tomatoes, this refers to the production of tomato paste while for Irish potatoes, the priority is import substitution through developing potato crisps and similar products.

Aligning with the Aswap target, tomato growers at Jenda formed a group in 2004 to mobilise resources for a tomato factory. But their dream is yet to be realised.

“We hatched this idea after noticing the amount of produce we lose every growing season due to lack of a ready market,” said Doris Nkunika, secretary for Champhira Community Savings and Investment Promotion (Comsip) Cooperative.

“The cooperative was initially a village savings bank. But an agricultural extension worker advised us that we would reduce harvest losses by opening a tomato factory to make tomato paste, jam and sauce.

“In 2008, we submitted a proposal to the One Village One Product (Ovop) secretariat for a tomato factory. Our proposal was successful. They sent us the manufacturing machine and money to build the factory.

“The cheque went through the district council. But to our surprise, the DC’s office has never involved us in the construction phase. We were not even informed of the amount of money that was allocated for the building. The only thing we were told was that we were expected to contribute 25 percent towards the project through provision of sand, bricks and land.

“Halfway through the project, we were informed that money for the project had been exhausted. Luckily, we had over K1 million and we allocated it to the building, but still, the money was not enough to complete it. The project has been idle since then,” complained Nkunika.

According to Ovop, K3 142 034 (US$7 720.) was disbursed to M’mbelwa district council for the project.

Ovop principal cooperative liaison officer Shadreck Mangwiro said the money was supposed to be enough to complete construction of the building.

“Our budgets are usually at K4.5 million (US$11 057) for such projects. K1.5 million is allocated for electricity connection. For the Jenda project, we disbursed K3 142 034 for construction,” said Mwangwiro.

But M’mbelwa district council director of planning and development Humphrey Gondwe denied receiving K3 142 034 from Ovop. He said they received K2.2 million (US$5 405) which he said was not enough to complete the building.

Gondwe said the building was sub-standard.

While communities at Jenda believe that their money for the factory went into wrong hands, the coming in of the Local Economic Development (LED) project—which is under the Local Development Fund (LDF)—has given them some flicker of hope.

The LED project seeks to improve the socio-economic well-being of the local population and strengthen economic growth in the four rural growth centres of Jenda, Monkey Bay in Mangochi, Malomo in Ntchisi and Chitekesa in Phalombe.

This would be achieved by deepening enterprise development, promoting rural growth centres, enhancing the capacity of local authority and management of technical knowledge.

At Jenda, LDF has partnered with Ovop to complete the farmers’ long-awaited dream for value addition. They have now refurbished the factory building, but it is far from starting operations.

“The building needs electricity, water, a drainage system, storerooms, toilets, landing bay, dressing rooms, room to house a generator and a boiler tank,” said Nkunika.

She said the Malawi Bureau of Standards (MSB) is yet to certify them to begin operations.

“All we need is for this factory to start its operations because we have suffered enough. Failure of the factory to start operations has also divided our group. People are no longer willing to buy shares in the group because their patience has waned,” said Nkunika.