Grain Legumes and Green Manures for Soil Fertility in ... - cimmyt

3. If households are linked to produce specifically
for cash domestic and export markets then there
is significant adoption of technologies, which
permits farmers to capture soil fertility improving
benefits.
Methods
In-depth interviews were conducted with selected
participants - traders, processors, policy makers,
and others - in order to obtain their subjective
evaluations and perceptions of constraints and opportunities.
Additional interviews were conducted
with traders, processors and government officials in
India, United Kingdom, Kenya, Malawi and Tanzania
during the 2001/02 cropping seasons to generate
data on quantity demanded, quality standards
required by international buyers, and competition
from alternative suppliers and alternative products
(Lo Monaco, 2002.). Rapid reconnaissance surveys
were cond ucted in Tanzania and Malawi to follow
the flow of pigeon pea down the marketing chain
from international buyers to farmers. During the
reconnaissance surveys, informal interviews were
conducted with farmers, extension agents, rural
traders, NCO representatives, crop assemblers,
transporters, and government officials. Trader,
farmer and key informant interviews were combined
with an analysis of quantity and price data,
relative price relationships, and gross marketing
margins. Quantity and price data ·were collected
from secondary sources, including ministries of agriculture,
national statistical offices, the Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) database, and published
and unpublished ·reports.
Overview of the Pigeonpea Sub-sector in
Malawi and Tanzania
Pigeonpea is widely grown in the semi-arid areas of
Malawi and Tanzania, mostly as an intercrop with
maize, sorghum and pearl millet; but also in hedges
around fields and on soil conservation barriers
along contours. This makes it difficult to obtain accurate
estimates of planted area, yield and production.
National statistics indicate that in Malawi; pigeonpea
is planted on 180,000 ha, yields are about
600 kg per hectare and annual production is about
100,000 t (Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation,
2001). In Tanzania about 815,000 ha are planted to
pulses, including pigeonpea, yields average 800 kg
per hectare, and production is about 635,500 t
(Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, 2002).
But the FAO estimates are considerably lower
(Table 1). Plantings in Malawi are concentrated in
Blantyre, Machinga, and Shire Valley regions. In
Tanzania, pigeonpea is mostly grown in Mtwara
and Lindi in the southern coastal areas, Babati in the
Grain legumes and Green Manures for Soil Fertility in Southern Africa
Table 1. Pigeonpea area and p.roduction in Kenya, Malawi and
Tanzania, 1980 to 2001
.Area ('ODD hal
Production ('ODD tl
1980·82 mean 1999·01 mean 1980·82 mean 1999·01 mean
Kenya 66 147a 29 45a
Malawi 127 ~ 23 85 79
Tanzania 37 65 23 47
Source: FAOSTAT, a. 1996·98 average
north, and Kondoa in the central region.
Management practices vary widely within and between
regions. Wide differences exist in choice of
variety, tillage, planting methods, intercropping,
spacing, soil water and fertility management, weeding,
pest and disease control, harvesting, and postharvest
management. For example within the same
agroecological zone in Kondoa, better resourceendowed
farmers grow as much as 5 ha of pigeonpea
intercropped with maize for export markets,
using improved varieties and science-based management
practices. Poor households grow a few
plants in homestead gardens for home consumption
using local varieties and traditional practices. Because
farmers cultivatesmall plots, they often plant
crop mixtures in the same field to maximize returns
to land and labor. In the main pigeonpea producing
areas, 58 percent of the maize area is a maizepigeonpea
intercrop, particularly in areas where pigeonpea
is a cash crop.
In the major pigeon pea growing regions, 90 percent
of farmers grow the crop and 70 percent of farmers
are "commercial", selling over half their production
(Orr, Jere, and Koloko, 1997). There is a long marketing
chain, with many intermediaries. Households
sell to vendors who buy from door to door, or
transport the grain to village markets for sale to intermediaries.
All transactions are in cash, and by
volume (bucket), not weight. The intermediaries
sell to other intermediaries who then sell to traders
for transport to the major towns and sale to large
exporters by weight. Traders do not pursue grades
and quality standards. They believe the market is
not mature enough for trading in graded form, and
that farmers may not produce a marketable surplus
if grades and standards are introduced. Exporters
clean, grade, pack, and ship it to international buyers.
In Tanzania there is no milling of pigeon pea;
the grain is exported 'raw'. Traders estimated that
annual exports currently average 30,000 to 35,000 t,
almost double the official estimates (Table 2) . Some
exports are shipped through Kenya. Likewise in
Malawi, traders estimated that about 30,000 tare
exported annually, although official estimates are
lower (Table 3). Traders estimated that as much as
35 percent of Malawi's exports is grown in Mozambique,
although this share has been declining begin­
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