April 13th -16th, 2009 -- Shamie Zingore and Jeroen Huising

1. Limpasi Irrigation Scheme, Nkatha Bay District

Location and Climate

The climate in Malawi is largely influenced by Lake Malawi, which covers almost two-thirds of Malawi’s eastern border.  Nkhata Bay District is located in northern Malawi and lies on the shore of Lake Malawi. The area experiences humid savanna climate with annual rainfall averaging 1700 mm. Rainfall distribution is unimodal (October-May).

Limphasa irrigation scheme is located in the central area of the sentinel site. The irrigation scheme was established in 1969 and covers 466 ha. It is one of 10 irrigation schemes, ‘rice factories’, established by the Malawi government between 1960 and 1980 to promote rural development, improve national food security, and rural poverty reduction.

Soils and soil fertility

The main soils in the Nkhata Bay sentinel site are Vertisols that are mainly used for irrigated lowland rice production. The soils are inherently fertile, with nitrogen the only commonly deficient nutrient. The major limitation is that the soils are prone to flooding and only suitable for rice production during summer.

Upland soils are mainly red clays (Luvisols) of moderate fertility. Nitrogen and phosphorus are the main limiting nutrients, and soil acidity is also widespread on the upland areas.

Farming system and land use description

The scheme has experienced numerous problems which have resulted in poor water and soil fertility management.  The irrigation infrastructure is dilapidated, though in the part we visited it seemed to operate well. Production has been reported to have declined substantially.  The Malawi government has recently secured funds from the World Bank and IFAD to rehabilitate the irrigation schemes. Rehabilitation work at Limphasa started in 2008. Management of the rehabilitated irrigation schemes will be transferred from government to farmers who will be allowed to buy land in the scheme.

Land ownership in the irrigation scheme ranges from 0.25-1 ha, with wealthier and politically connected farmers owning larger pieces of land. Plots are allocated by the scheme committee working with a government scheme manager. Land ownership is not permanent. Farmers pay a plot fee of US$2/year for a standard plot of 0.25 ha. Rice is the main crop grown during summer and is produced for the market. In winter, a variety of crops including rice, beans, and maize are grown for home consumption. Cropping operations are done manually, although a few farmers who own cattle (cattle ownership livestock <10% own cattle) use draught power.

Most of the farmers use moderate levels of fertilizer (~60 kg N/ha) in rice production (subsidy is limited to one or two bags of fertilizer for basal and top dressing). Residues are mostly burnt in-situ. Fertilizer available from the district centre in Nkhata Bay, about 5 km from the irrigation scheme. Farmers hire casual labour during critical rice growing periods.

Winter cultivation is limited by lack of water: farther away from the central canal the chances of getting water are reduced. The land area cultivated is regulated each year by the scheme management committee depending on water availability. 

Ownership of land in upland areas varies widely from <1 ha to 5 ha.  The main crops grown are maize and cassava, and grain legumes (groundnuts and beans). In upland fields, fertilizers are used exclusively for maize production, but application rates are very low. Farmers also use compost and crop residues to supplement fertilizers used. Cassava is often harvested before the crop has matured, especially when farmers have small plots of land. Yield reported for upland rice is around 15 bags (90kg) per ha (presumably), whereas in the irrigation scheme they get 25 bags per plot (0.6 ha).

Few farmers own cattle and this is mostly used for ploughing & puddling. Some farmers hire animal traction for the rice fields, but most is done by hand.

Timber and rubber plantations: The land around the irrigation scheme is part of commercial timber and rubber plantations.  The plantations cover large areas in the Northern Region and Zomba District in the Southern Region.

Mkondezi Research station

Mkondezi Research station, under the Department of Agricultural Research Services (DARS) is located within the sentinel sites and close to the irrigation scheme. The station has 70 ha of land for research, divided over two locations. The station is managed by Mr W. Kanyika, a scientist in breeding. The main role of the station is to validate and promote technologies developed by main stations. The main activities are variety trials for root and tubers (cassava, sweet potatoes and coco yam) rice, maize, tropical fruits (banana, citrus, mangoes) and spices under different soil fertility management and agronomic practices.

Research work at the station is constrained by shortage of funds and staff. Currently there is one scientist and two assistants.

Extension & Markets & Socio-economic Conditions

Reportedly there is one extension officer for 10 villages here in the region. Buyers and traders from Mzuzu come to the villages, hulling is mostly done in Mzuzu and rice is sold there as well. Prices tend to double in a few months after harvest, but farmers are not able to profit from that.

Families are generally food secure, whether they have plot in the irrigation scheme or not. Cassava is for home consumption, little is sold. Farmers that are part of the rice scheme are generally not from the area, whereas the local farmers tend to cultivate the upland area.

2. Mpatuka/Ntambalika Villages, Chiradzulu District

Location and Climate

Chiradzulu District is located in southern Malawi, and receives ~1000 mm of rainfall annually. The area experiences occasional droughts or poor rainfall distribution characterized by mid-season droughts.

Soils and soil fertility

The soils in Mpatuka/Ntambalika villages are predominantly sandy Lixisols with low inherent fertility. Most areas under the Lixisols are highly degraded due to cultivation for long periods with little or no organic amendments. Smaller scattered areas fall under more fertile red-clay soils (Luvisols).

Farming system and land use description

Chiradzulu District is one of the poorest and earliest settled areas in Malawi. Agriculture is the main source of livelihood. The District is characterized by:
•    High population density (>300 pp/km2 against a national average of ~100 pp/km2).
•    Small landholding with average arable land <0.5 ha/family.
•    Intensive land use with >90% of the arable land used every year.
•    Severe deforestation, leading to land degradation, scarcity of fuel wood.
•    High AIDS prevalence.

Maize is the predominant crop produced by farmers in Chiradzulu, exclusively for home consumption.
 
Crop production is mostly rain-fed and limited to the rainy season. Most families are not self sufficient in maize, with more than 50% of the households failing to produce sufficient maize to feed the household for nine months. Due to the small landholdings, maize is commonly intercropped with cassava and/or pigeon pea and/or beans. Small rates of fertilizer or organic nutrient resources are used and as a result yields are low and average less that 0.5 t /ha.

Livestock ownership is low mainly due to lack of grazing land. The main livestock (owned by few farmers) are goats and dairy cows. Dairy cows are an important source of income, but farmers face major problems accessing feed resources, with many cycling more than 20 km daily to purchase Napier grass. The cows are kept in a zero-grazing system.

Natural vegetation is savanna (miombo) woodland dominated by Brachystegia Spiciformis, but trees and other forest resources in the site have been depleted due to a combination of high population pressures, lack of rules governing natural resource use, and weak enforcement of natural resource management regulations.

R&D activities in Mpatuka/Ntambalika

The IFAD investment project (Rural Livelihood Project) is under implementation to improve food security in the site. The project is focusing on supporting farmers to improve food security with a focus on (i) input supply (fertilizer and seed), (ii) provision of livestock – goats, pigs and dairy cows to diversify income from cropping, (iii) training farmers on soil conservation to reduce soil erosion and (iv) provision of technical services to complement government extension services. The project is in the middle of a seven year term.

TSBF-CIAT are implementing a grant to backstop the IFAD investment project. The grant is testing and validating different ISFM technologies for reversing soil fertility depletion and improving fertilizer use efficiency within maize pigeon pea intercrop systems. Multi-locational nutrient omission trials covering N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S and micronutrients in combination with manure have been implanted for two seasons to diagnose nutrient contrasting productivity of maize and pigeon pea under variable soil fertility conditions. Participatory learning and action research approaches are being used to build capacity of farmers in ISFM and adapting ISFM technologies to different land units within and across farms. Major outputs of this work are decision guides to support farmers and development agents to more efficiently target investment in crop and livestock production taking into account the biophysical and socio-economic crop and livestock production constraints.

ICRISAT have been and are involved in the area under the IFAD project with groundnut and pigeon pea. ICRAF in the past have been doing agroforestry work. There are good opportunities to collaborate in the sentinel site.

Socio-economic

Most people are structurally food insecure. Opportunities for earning some additional off-farm income are limited and people are dependent on so called ‘peace farmers’ who provide some small job opportunities. Farmers/communities seem to be well organized: there are Village Development Communities and Area Dev. Comm. that reside under the traditional authority, the chief. Under that there are different sections (or micro-projects) that deal with for example food security, or livestock production.

Fertilizer and hybrids are being distributed through those micro-projects. Standard fertilizer recommendations do often not give good results. Hotspot areas of poor soils have been identified partly, but AfSIS would provide a major contribution in this respect. Although people may have migrated to the cities, very little have gone abroad and people do not receive any remittances from family to support their livelihoods.