Managing post-harvest losses in Malawi
Apart from being scientific in nature, agriculture is also an art. It is the application of human creativity and imagination to the scientific requirements of production that makes it an art. It is also this personal input that contributes to the sense of fulfilment that a farmer feels at the end of a hard day’s work.
However, not many realize the significance of applying their artistic skills to the field.
Having grown up on the farm, I realized from an early age that the poor handling of our harvest — between the processes of grain threshing, winnowing and drying — would lead to huge losses. On reflection, one could say that my family did not put much effort into finding creative solutions to control the inevitable grain losses that we incurred.
And we were not alone. Over the years, Malawi’s media have reported on how poor post-harvest handling is one of the many factors contributing to food insecurity in the country.
Poor usage of pesticides is also said to lead to huge losses during storage of grains due to the infiltration of weevils, rats and other pests.
Managing harvests amid Covid-19
In Malawi, most farmers harvest their maize crop between April and May. This year, the harvest period coincided with the alarming global spike in Covid-19 cases. With Malawi’s authorities forced to call for a lockdown, many farmers were afraid that in addition to battling weevils and other pests, they would now also have to contend with increased theft of their unharvested crop. Fortunately for the farmers, these fears did not materialize, following a court decision against the lockdown offer. This gave farmers ample time to harvest, process and store their maize grain. However, it remains to be seen whether this has led to a new sense of urgency about the need for serious efforts to prevent any losses of valuable produce in these difficult times.
Addressing post-harvest losses
Reducing food loss and wastage is an important target for achieving several targets under the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and in particular SDG 2 on ‘Zero Hunger’. In 2019, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Malawi, together with Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics (AJARE), and the National Smallholder Farmers’ Association of Malawi (NASFAM), conducted a survey to determine how much grain is lost after harvesting, including during storage.
The survey, which mainly focused on maize, groundnuts, and soybeans beans, was conducted among 1,200 households in two districts. The results indicated that farmers lose between 5 and 12% of their total harvests during the harvesting and processing stages.
Farmers also attributed part of the losses to increased production, with many reporting that they were overwhelmed in managing their produce.
To reduce wastage, especially during storage, Malawi’s Ministry of Agriculture and Water Development endorsed the Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS) bags that have proven to be effective in cutting losses of grains.
Popularly known as “magic bags,’’ The PICS bags were recently introduced in the country. While their use is still limited to a few farmers, those using the bags have given positive feedback about their effectiveness. On the local market, the bags are being sold in most agro dealer shops and are currently priced at MK1000/ 50kg (about US$1.36) and MK1300/100kg (about US$1.76) bags respectively. The ordinary bags however are priced at MK150/50KG and MK300/100kg bags, which is a major reason many farmers have not yet adopted the PICS bags.
There is hope that as farmers, and other actors in the distribution chain, become more aware of the monetary value of losses resulting from poor post-harvest handling, more will come on board. This will not only contribute to increased food security, but it will also save money that was used for buying pesticides.
A focus on strengthening knowledge dissemination among farmers can help speed up adoption of these good post-harvest management practices for grains. There is also a need to shift our focus to value addition of fruits and tubers that are also highly wasted.
It is about time to move from traditional storage practices that expose grains to pests leading to massive losses. Innovative and scientific grain storage and management mechanisms are an important part of the quest to realize food security.
Written by Nellie Kanyemba Kapatuka
This article is part of Covid-19 Food/Future, an initiative under TMG ThinkTank for Sustainability’s SEWOH Lab project (https://www.tmg-thinktank.com/sewoh-lab). It aims at providing a unique and direct insight into the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on national and local food systems. Also follow @CovidFoodFuture, our Video Diaries From Nairobi, and @TMG_think on Twitter. Funding for this initiative is provided by BMZ, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
