By Patience Lunda:
A 2024 study by World Unfolds has ranked Malawi as the highest mango producer and the seventh in the world.
According to the study, Malawi produces 1.7 million tonnes of mangoes every year during a season that runs from October to March.
Malawi is competing with countries such as India, China, Indonesia, Pakistan, Mexico and Brazil that form the top six highest mango producing countries.
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India comes first with an annual production of 25 million metric tonnes followed by China with 3.8 million metric tonnes and Indonesia with 3.6 million metric tonnes.
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The study has indicated that Malawi’s net production meets international standards as the varieties grown, Kent and Keitt, are world’s favourite owing to their taste.
Ministry of Trade and Industry spokesperson Patrick Botha said at the moment, mangoes are exported in pulp form by one company.
He called upon the private sector to join the subsector.
“So, as you are aware, industrialisation is a second pillar in realisation of Malawi 2063, the others being agriculture commercialisation and urbanisation, now what remains is for more cooperatives, manufacturers and investors to buy in the mango value chain,” he said.
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Economist Edward Chilima said despite Malawi producing more mangoes, they fail to find markets and they eventually go bad.
Chilima added that there is a need for research and investing in technologies that can improve the quality of mangoes so that they can attract more buyers.
“Locally, we have to add value so that they are available throughout the season. We need to form cooperatives that could amalgamate the produce and sell efficiently to formal markets like to Malawi Mangoes.”
“We need to deliberately create something like mega farms to be able to produce more mangoes across seasons. This will ensure continuity in production and supply. Institutions such as the shire Valley Transformation Programme can champion this,” he said.
An analysis of the mango value chain in Malawi, which was conducted by the Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics at Michigan State University in 2019, found that 99 percent of mangoes produced in Malawi are of local varieties and only one percent are of improved varieties.
According to the analysis, smallholder farmers realise gross margins of close to K300, 000 per hectare while semi commercial farmers realise close to K1.6 million per hectare.
