via AGRA (Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa)

It is easy to tell where the farmers from the Fumaki Cooperative live: their homes have iron roofs.

When smallholder farmers make money, one of the first modifications they make to their homes is to install an iron roof, not only is it a sign of wealth, but unlike traditional thatch roofs, iron roofs do not leak.

With the aim of attracting larger buyers, Farmers in Kamenya Village in southern Malawi organized themselves into the Fumaki Cooperative in 2009.

Since 2009, the Fumaki Cooperative has grown to almost 400 members and as it has grown, the way the members work together has evolved, with the cooperative now growing seed for one of Malawi’s emerging local seed enterprises, Mgom’mera Seed Company.

Through the arrangement, the farmers receive quality seed and inputs, training on good agronomic practices and a guaranteed price and market for their produce.

In return, they grow the seed that the seed company processes, packages and markets through agro-dealers across the country.

Mgom’mera Seed Company is working with seven farmer cooperatives and over 1200 farmers, to multiply cereal and legume seed to boost the availability of improved seed in Malawi.

In 2015, Mgom’mera received a grant from the Scaling Seeds and Technologies Partnership (SSTP) to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Malawi by improving their access to higher yielding improved varieties of cereals and legumes.

SSTP is an initiative between USAID and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), which funds local seed companies like Mgom’mera to produce seed and run field days and demonstrations to encourage farmers to adopt the higher-yielding technology.

Through the grant, Mgom’mera is producing 210 metric tons (MT) of maize, 120MT of beans, 165MT of pigeonpea, and 160MT of cowpeas; plant breeders in Malawi developed all these varieties.

Project Manager with Mgom’mera Seed Company, Lennick Makause, says partnerships like the one between Mgom’mera and Fumaki help empower farmers through skills and income and the company to produce the seed it needs.

“We are looking at income generating activities for these smallholder farmers,” Makause said, before adding: “Instead of just growing for consumption, the farmers grow for seed production.”

The Chair of the Fumaki Cooperative, Netfitale Njolomole, says the partnership with Mgom’mera is strengthening the cooperative’s members.

“Through this work we are getting higher yields and we are learning modern farming techniques, which help us grow better crops,” he says.

Njolomole talks about how he and other farmers have learned how to space plants to give them enough room to grow, as well as how to apply soil nutrients, including fertilizer and manure.

These techniques may seem simple, but with many farmers lacking access to extension services, they are practices farmers have never been taught.

Husband and wife Louis and Margret Chilaula, are members of Fumaki and growing seed for Mgom’mera.

Louis says partnerships like this are a welcome development in Malawian agriculture.

“I don’t need to struggle to buy the seed and I am now assured of a market,” he says.

“Now my only worry is to grow a good crop!”

In addition to Louis’ sentiments, Margaret, says the partnership is also helping to change farmers’ mindsets.

“In Malawi, there is a myth that to make money [as a farmer] you have to grow tobacco.

“When you look at the hard work and effort that goes into growing tobacco, growing seed is much more profitable,” she says.

As well as being easier to grow, a farmer can harvest beans three times per year – tobacco only produces one crop per year – and with Mgom’mera providing the market and a guaranteed price ($1/kg), the net income for a farmer growing seed, can be higher than it is for a tobacco farmer.

The farmers from Fumaki are growing the Mnyambitira bean variety.

As well as being tolerant to drought, pests and diseases, Mnyambitira matures earlier than other varieties such as Kholophethe (Sugar 131); producing a crop in about 75 days.

Early maturing varieties are important for two reasons. First, a shorter maturing crop needs less water to grow, a key advantage when rains fail or the end of the season turns hot. Second, a crop that matures earlier puts food on a farmer’s table sooner.

While farmers like Louis and Margret are aware of the benefits of improved varieties like Mnyambitira, due to limited supply and money, less than 50 percent of farmers in Malawi plant improved varieties

“Buying good seed is important, even the buyers will only offer a good price if you have used good seed,” Louis says.

“But sometimes good seed isn’t available,” he adds.

Increasing the availability of improved varieties is what the Scaling Seed and Technologies Partnership (SSTP) in Africa is trying to do.

The head of SSTP in Malawi, Dr. Geoffrey Kananji, a plant breeder himself, understands first-hand the challenges around getting newer varieties to farmers.

He says the key challenge in Malawi is the infancy of the country’s seed sector, where local seed companies lack the financial and technical resources needed to commercialize new varieties.

“Many of the seed companies in Malawi don’t have the capital to buy the land they need to produce enough seed, so will contract farmers to grow the seed.

“Farmers benefit, not only through training and a ready market for their produce, but it also helps them change the way they view farming,” he says.

“When I was growing up, you would farm to produce enough food to feed the family for the coming year”.

“But we are seeing this change,” he explains.

“Farmers are seeing that you don’t just have to farm to survive; farming can be a business, that thrives,” he adds.