By Fostina Mkandawire

Salima, March 12, Mana: As one way of ensuring that smallholder mango farmers get the best value for their produce, the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF) has equipped farmers with skills for proper management and market links.

Speaking in Salima on Monday when CIFOR-ICRAF organized a learning visit for mango smallholder farmers from Kasungu and Mzimba at Malawi Mangoes manufacturing company, Horticulturalist for Kasungu district Samuel Kumpolota emphasized the need for farmers to have links with markets.

"We wanted the farmers to understand the whole process of taking care of a mango tree, from planting to harvesting so that when they take their produce to the market it should be a product that cannot be denied because of its high quality," he said.

He said farmers should also understand different varieties of mangoes that are marketable, therefore the fruit value chain of mangoes is broad and it is important to teach the farmers all the processes.

"Some farmers are afraid of marketing their mangoes to companies because they have the notion that mangoes are sold in bulk and as individual farmers they cannot manage to produce such volumes, however it is possible to produce and sell even small quantities to companies," he said.

One of the smallholder mango growers who came for the learning visit from Mzimba district, Rose Kamanga hailed the visit to Malawi Mangoes Limited because she has been growing mangoes for 15 years but she was not realizing profits due to how she was managing her mangoes.

"At first I never took the business seriously but now my perception has changed with the trainings I have been receiving from ICRAF, I started selling my mangoes to Malawi Mangoes Limited in 2023, I saw a huge difference in the profits that I realized from the sales," she said.

She also said being a woman she used to look down upon herself with a perception that such business venture was meant for men fortunately that has changed with the capacity building she has been receiving.

CIFOR-ICRAF’s Malawi Senior Scaling Up Officer in Agroforestry, Christopher Katema said he sees immense potential in the mango value chain to enhance the livelihoods of smallholder farmer while simultaneously bolstering Malawi's export base.

He said the challenge is that many of the fruit growers are failing to find a market for their fibreless mangoes and some abandoned their improved orchards in favour of other crops," he said.

On this point he said CIFOR-ICRAF has provided opportunities to the smallholder fruit growers in Malawi, particularly those supported through the Agroforestry Food Security Program (AFSP I and II) funded by Irish Aid and the Flemish Government.

"We have facilitated the farmers to sell their good quality fibreless mangoes to Malawi Mangoes. About 50 growers have successfully sold their mango fruits to Malawi Mangoes Limited, we want to increase and diversify smallholder income, strengthen women’s economic empowerment, reduce intra-household inequality," he said.

The project aims to co-develop and test interventions and devise policy options to enhance women’s engagement and empowerment in high-potential, low-carbon food tree (FT) value chains (improved fruit and macadamia nuts).