Seed supply challenges and lack of production manual continue to affect sesame farming despite the climate-resilient crop’s proven export potential and vast commercial value.
This comes at a time the crop is guaranteed 200 000 metric tonnes (MT) of the export market in Japan, but production levels remain small. In 2022, Malawi produced 6 000MT of the crop before rising to 11 000MT last year.
In an interview on Tuesday, Sesame Development Trust chairperson Driana Lwanda said there are efforts by various players to develop the sesame value chain after observing the vast potential of the crop, which is used for oil production and in confectionery.
She said: “Sesame has been an orphan crop for many years; hence, there are no extension services to help in guiding farmers, but its value chain is the most viable to solve the country’s industrialisation and export challenges.
Lwanda, who is also African Institute for Corporate Citizenship chief executive officer said despite registering progress in mobilising farmers, there is no production manual to guide in extension services.
She said: “For instance, the crop does well in almost all climates in the country with great resistance to dry weather conditions while its valuable Sesame cooking oil makes it the most attractive of the country’s commodity exports, especially in Japan.
“This year, we have two off-takers ready to buy 50 000 MT each, which have the readily available market in Japan, a feat that is difficult to meet as we only produced 11 000MT in the 2023/24 season.”
In a separate interview, one of the local off-takers Moyo Agro Trading Company managing director Charles Govati said due to lack of extension services and production systems, it is working with commercial farmers for easy monitoring.
He said currently, they are working with farmers with a minimum of two hectares.
Said Govati: “Our two overseas off-taking companies are the Japanese which are serious about quality and traceability of the farmers hence for us to monitor production stages we need commercial farmers for easy monitoring.
“For us, it is also critical, at the moment, to ensure that we deal directly with our farmers because our overseas markets are signatories of fair-trade and they want the farmers at production point to be paid fairly without exploitation by middlemen.”
On the lack of processing capabilities locally, Govati said the off-takers would only offer funding for the factory when production levels reach 20 000MT because it is currently not worth it businesswise.
Ministry of Agriculture director of crop development Elida Kazira said the ministry is aware of the export demand for sesame as such it is collaborating with stakeholders in the value chain to promote the seed supply and production manual.
He said: “Indeed, seed for sesame remains a challenge but four sesame varieties were released. The ministry is now urging companies to take up sesame seed production to make it available and accessible. In the 2023/24 agriculture season, sesame price averaged K2 100 per kilogramme (kg), but other buyers offered as high as K3 000 per kg, which was above the farm gate prices of almost all crops set by the Ministry of Agriculture.
