126Ha getting ready for Bananas and Mangoes in Malawi
It has to be said that when Karen Smith, BIF Malawi country manager, and I visited the 126Ha site that Malawi Mangoes (MM) have secured for their banana plantation in early December last year, there was very little to see! However, it didn’t take much imagination to understand the potential for this big thinking business start up.
The company’s inclusive business model is to source large volumes of fruit (bananas and mangoes) from a mixture of smallholder farmers and its own plantations and process these into fruit pulp for regional and international export markets. MM is constructing a processing plant close to the plantation (the farm is in Matumba near to Salima, 10km from the lakeshore in Central Malawi), powered entirely by solar and biomass / biogas, with the aim of piloting operations in September this year with bananas and being fully set up for the mango season which commences in November. By implementing the first large scale, international standard, fruit processing facility in Malawi, MM aim to generate over 1,000 jobs in farmwork and at their processing plant. It is estimated that the activities of the business once up and running will impact the livelihoods of up to 12,000 local households.
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On our visit to the fledgling plantation, we witnessed the MM team planning and implementing the construction of the irrigation systems; these include hand-dug wells (see picture), the sites for which were identified by a water diviner. The plant irrigation system will be based on conjunctive water use, i.e. a mix of surface and underground water. Water reservoirs will be used for the collection of surface water and two wells will grant access to underground water. Once the drip irrigation system is finalised, 3-4 drippers per banana plant will enable high water efficiency thanks to very low levels of water evaporation. Water reservoirs will have additional benefits to the local communities, e.g. for dealing with flooding in the rainy season, which currently often prevents children from reaching their schools. Indeed, the name of the local river is ‘Mavula’ which loosly translated from Chichewa means ‘the river of the unclothed people’...
MM’s plan for the land is that it will be the first Rainforest Alliance Certified (RFA) banana plantation in Africa and also the first worldwide in which RFA has been involved from the initial design. At the time of our visit 20Ha of land had already been cleared and nine of these were ready for the plantation of approx. 10,000 banana scions - 2 month old banana plants that will be imported from South Africa. Bananas have a growing cycle 9 to 14 months depending on temperature and so once the plants reach maturity in the case of MM in 9 months, a steady supply of fruit will be available all year round. |
Well digging on Malawi Mangoes Plantation. Picture: Karen Smith |
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Bananas will be grown on the company’s own plantation in the first instance, partly for disease control since a contagious virus “Bunchy Top” can severely affect bananas and the crop needs to carefully managed. However, the mangoes will be sourced from local smallholders within the Salima area. MM has been working with local communities to graft better quality mango material to existing trees with poor fruit. This is a method tried and tested elsewhere in Africa and will lead to increased yield and quality of the mangoes. MM guarantees to buy all the mangoes grown on these trees. At the time of our visit, 5,000 trees had already been cut back and 300 of these had had new material grafted; the aim is to graft 35,000 trees in total this year.
As MM develop their plans, the Business Innovation Facility have been assisting them in various ways. A cost sharing project is underway to support them with farm planning, as described in this project summary. BIF have also been helping MM to seek funding and partners for their renewable energy plant and other smallholder engagement work, and to this end a teaser has been designed which summarises their proposition. BIF also conducted a cost of living survey for MM in the Salima district to ensure they understood the local economy to inform their plans for employment and mango smallholders – more information on the results of the survey will be published on the Hub soon. |
