The uptake of improved maize varieties and fertilizer in Malawi has been limited. For farmers that can afford fertilizer, there is an urgent need to increase the profitability of this input by better targeted recommendations that are appropriate for smallholders. For the increasing majority of households, the cash requirement needed to buy inorganic fertilizer far exceeds their total cash income. Credit is often proposed as a solution but is only of value to individuals who are periodically short of cash to purchase inputs. In Malawi, the NGO VEZA International has used a combination of start up grants and savings mobilization to give access to improved maize seed and fertilizer. Project staff work in close collaboration with research staff to ensure that the technologies being recommended to farmers are profitable. This has resulted in new fertilizer recommendations, that are significantly cheaper, improved fertilizer application methods and new fertilizer formulations procured through commercial channels that represent the best value on the market today. The close supervision between participating farmers, NGO Staff and Researchers has resulted in a rapid transfer of technology that can be taken up by farmers that were previously considered too poor. The menu of options available to these farmers is being widened to allow for crop diversification into high value cash crops. This transition will be relatively easy once household food security has been established through the adoption of improved maize technologies.

English

9712|AGRIS 9702

Jose Juan Caballero

CIMMYT Publications Collection