agrl_innovations_in_ssa.pdf?utm_content=buffercb41d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

Box 4: NASFAM structure
The National Smallholder Farmers Association of Malawi (NASFAM) originated as a USAID-funded
project to support and organise tobacco production. Since 1995, NASFAM has promoted diversification
away from dependency on maize and tobacco, supporting production of alternative crops including:
chillies, groundnuts, rice, soybeans, sunflowers and other crops as and when opportunities occur.
NASFAM functions are split between commercial and development activities. Commercial activities
include the marketing of inputs to, and produce from farmers. Development activities, which are often
donor-funded, include community development and capacity-building services for staff and NASFAM
members.
The smallest operational NASFAM unit is the Club comprising 10–15 individual smallholder farmers.
Clubs combine to form Action Groups, which are the focus point for extension and dissemination of
information and bulking of produce for marketing. Action Groups in turn combine to form Associations
of which there are currently 40 across Malawi. These are legally registered entities, memberowned
and managed by Farmer Boards. Associations are grouped by geographical location under
14 different Association Management Centres (AMCs), which provide management and operational
support to the Associations for production, marketing and community development. Each AMC is
supported by NASFAM Regional and Head Offices. This includes support and guidance to members
on the organisation and management of small-scale businesses, access to inputs, advice, technical
support and training on crop management and agronomic practices, harvesting and postharvest crop
management. In addition NASFAM provides marketing support, facilitating the bulking of member’s
crops to secure access to the most profitable markets for reliable income.
Much of this is undertaken through NASFAM’s farmer-to-farmer training programmes, where
progressive members are trained to train fellow members on successful and best bet practices
including:
• Seed selection, use of fertiliser and chemicals
• Land preparation, planting and crop husbandry, promoting environmentally and sustainable natural
resource management (NRM) practices
• Provision of crop production estimates for marketing plans
• Harvest and postharvest techniques for drying and grading
Through its network of Associations, NASFAM facilitates the procurement, bulking and transport
of members’ produce to the point of sale. It works to identify and secure domestic, regional and
international markets for its members’ produce.
Source: NASFAM, 2011
content. After introduction of the farmer training programmes, results showed 39 percent of
the groundnuts were aflatoxin free, 29 percent had levels in the range 1–2 ppb, 20 percent
2–4 ppb and 12 percent over 4 ppb, showing that farmers had started to improve their crop
management and postharvesting management practices thus reducing aflatoxin levels. It
was also evident that progress varied between areas. This process of testing continued for a
number of seasons and showed continuing improvement in reduction of aflatoxin levels with
a high proportion meeting export standards. Although aflatoxin levels have shown a gradual
decline, weather conditions during maturity and harvest can have significant influence on yearto-year
variation. This requires ongoing monitoring so that production standards continue to
meet export requirement standards, especially in the face of competition from traders and
vendors who do not require the same standards to be met.
The case studies: Southern Africa 51