ICREMENTATION OF WHEAT PRODUCTION IN MALAWI (Mpale farm, Dowa)

 ICREMENTATION OF WHEAT PRODUCTION IN MALAWI 

When someone has taken a cup of tea accompanied with bread, here in Malawi that's most valuable breakfast, bread is very delicious food but to be made it needs wheat, wheat is one of the oldest and most important of the cereal crops. There are thousands of varieties known but the most important and common is Triticum aestivum,

despite bread being its product wheat also used in making pasta (alimentary pastes) such as spaghetti and macaroni, It can also be cooked in milk to make semolina pudding or fried golden brown and then mixed with sugar to make halva, as eaten in the Middle East, its Bran can be added to biscuits, cakes, muffins and breads to increase the dietary fiber content, in northern Africa countries(Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Egypt) wheat is made into couscous where by is sprinkled with slightly salted water and rubbed to make tiny pellets which are steamed and then dried, can be a salad base, added to soups, or served as a side dish for meats and vegetables It can also be sweetened, spiced and mixed with dried fruits for dessert.

Although wheat has many products which can be made locally or in factory, here in Malawi well known product is bread 

which is manufactured by companies like Bolera Bakery, Kapani Bakery, Capital, Central Bakery, Bread Talk and many more. These companies sell bread at higher price because wheat is not easily to be accessed here in Malawi since as a country produce small amount of it for years, Malawi has struggles to produce enough wheat for consumption, let alone export. For over a decade, the country has witnessed declining levels of production and yields. According to an assessment report on the potential for scaling Malawis wheat production for domestic consumption and export released by Mwapata Institute in November 2022.

 As the solution to this low production of wheat, Malawi was forced to import wheat from other big producers countries like Ukraine and other European countries, it was importing 200,000 tons of wheat at $48 million that means more wheat was imported than that was produced by farmers here in Malawi, importing was best solution indeed but unfortunately the ongoing political conflict between Russia and Ukraine has disrupted food supply chains globally and Malawis wheat supply has been adversely affected, since in the year which conflict started Malawi has been struggling to import enough wheat for the country to produce different products.

Due to this problem that attacks the whole world Malawi as a country find other solutions on its own, so the solution is just to increase its production to reach the amount needed, but to solve this problem is not easy since farmers have been growing wheat but to produce it in high amount was really problem so scientists at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) are helping to scale up wheat production and productivity in Malawi. Pyxus Trading, the largest agribusiness private company here in Malawi, has partnered with CIMMYT to accelerate the growth of wheat production in the country. As part of the Accelerated Innovation Delivery Initiative (AID-I), a new project funded by the United States of Agency for International Development (USAID), CIMMYT has facilitated access to 100 improved wheat varieties that are currently undergoing trials.

Pyxus Trading aimed to select the most suitable wheat varieties that are adapted to the countrys agro-ecology and provide satisfactory yields and grain quality sufficient for their processing ambitions through this partnership, Malawi aimed to reduce its reliance on imported wheat and increase food security by adopting improved wheat varieties that are well-suited to the countrys climate and soil conditions. By increasing wheat productivity, Malawi will be able to meet its demand for wheat, and farmers will be able to sell their surplus produce, which will boost their incomes and contribute to the countrys economic growth.

After the trails conducted at Kasinthula Research Station four varieties were identified, KAS26, KAS27, KAS36 and KAS57, KAS coming from the words Kasinthula Research Station, the researchers said that the four varieties are tolerant to heat stress, resistant to stem bores, rust diseases and are early maturing, with the worries that Malawi had over Low yields from old and existing varieties, the four are ideal for mass production of wheat. Pyxus Agriculture Limited was the first company to use these new varieties in Dowa, Madisi where there is its Farm,  Mpale, 

president of Republic of Malawi Dr. Lazarus Chakwera in 2023 witnessed the first ever largescale harvest of wheat in his remarks he said that current variety of wheat grain will reduce the burden of importation cost which has been choking the country a long time and added that though wheat production people will able to buy wheat products at cheaper price and this will also reduce the cost of production of companies in the country.

As 2063 vision of this country of having the Mega farms Pyxus Agriculture Limited Malawi plays a big role on its farm in Dowa and this wheat farm offers many jobs to people surround this farm, Pyxus said Malawi to stop relying on imported wheat it will take almost four years but its better we have found the solution. This is how the journey of wheat production has been but Malawi according to its vision will be one of the big producers in coming years.