By George Mponda, Mana:
Farmers in Karonga District have been urged to use early maturing seed varieties that are tolerant to weather conditions in the area to contain looming hunger emanating from weather-related shocks.
The advice has come from crops officer from the District Agriculture Development Office, Stocker Nundwe.
Nundwe said this during an agriculture field day organised by Seed Co Malawi recently.
He said this is in line with the Ministry of Agriculture’s focus of improving food security, good nutrition and financial security in every household.
“This aligns with the government’s growing calls for farmers to practice climate smart agriculture, which includes planting early maturing crop varieties in our district, which is hit with disasters annually,” Nundwe said.
Agronomy Manager for Seed Co Malawi, James Mtiesa, highlighted that farmers could maximise yield if crop varieties appropriate to their agro-ecological regions are used.
“It all starts with the right seed and on display today we had maize, soya and rice which mature early. Some crops do not need much rain and I can assure farmers that they will still get a bumper harvest even when the crops grown on a small piece of land. For example, we have Kalulu maize seed which matures in not more than 80 days and Signal 110 soya seed which matures in 104 days.
“Farmers can harvest 50 and 28 bags per hectare of the maize and soya, respectively. Nerica 4 rice seed matures in 100 days and can be grown anywhere since it does not need much water and can produce 32 bags from a hectare,” Mtiesa said.
He added that by selecting appropriate early maturing varieties and diversifying crop choices, farmers can mitigate the risks associated with uncertain rainfall patterns and increase their chances of achieving a successful and bountiful harvest.
One of the farmers, Paliph Msukwa, said adopting hybrid seed varieties which mature early and are drought tolerant can be a solution to problems faced by farmers in Karonga and help increase yields, food and nutrition security.
Some communities under Traditional Authority Kyungu in Karonga District were rendered homeless following the flooding of Rukuru River on the night of February 23 2024.
