04 March 2010
Peanut farmer Rosemary Kadzitche points to a shrivelled clump of yellowing leaves in the heart of a peanut plant at her feet. “That disease,” she says, “affected the whole crop last year. We didn’t grow anything.”
Fortunately, this year’s peanut crop in Mchinji, western Malawi, where Rosemary lives and works, looks much healthier, with only the odd yellowed plant to be seen.
Smallholder farmers like Rosemary make up around 90% of all farmers in Malawi, a country in which 85% of people are employed in agriculture. Her two hectares of land are a scattering of small plots where she grows soya and maize as well as peanuts. But it is peanuts – which she exports to UK supermarkets – that are Rosemary’s main source of income.
Guaranteed fair price
Mchinji district is at the centre of an initiative, supported by DFID, that’s helping Malawi’s farmers to get their peanuts into UK supermarkets. The initiative guarantees local farmers a fair price for their crops, which are then sold to consumers under the Fairtrade mark.
It can be difficult for smallholder farmers to access big overseas markets, because of the relatively small quantities they produce. To overcome this problem, the initiative allows them to sell their produce in special buying centres, from where they are shipped off for export.
Farming is still gruelling work, though. Rosemary surveys the field around her. “It takes about three weeks to weed on my own,” she guesses, “but sometimes I hire labour to help me.”
Shelling the nuts is another tough job. A 25 kilogram bag will take four to five people a full day to shell by hand. To help speed up the delivery of nuts from farm to warehouse, the initiative has provided mobile shelling machines.
With the money Rosemary has made from her peanuts, she has been able to buy her family a radio, a bicycle, goats and chickens. Some farmers have used their profits to open bank accounts, start new businesses and put their children through secondary school.
Rosemary now sees a bright future for herself. “My goal is to be self-sufficient,” she says. “Through this field I’d like to buy a car. Not a motorbike, but a car. Then I’d be happy, very happy.”
Facts and stats
- The initiative was set up by the development organisation Twin Trading with the National Smallholder Farmers’ Association of Malawi (NASFAM) and the research organisation International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT).
- DFID is providing £12 million to Fairtrade between 2010 and 2014.