scholarly journals Review of Macadamia Production in Malawi: Focusing on What, Where, How Much Is Produced and Major Constraints

Agriculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 152
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Junior Zuza ◽  
Kadmiel Maseyk ◽  
Shonil Bhagwat ◽  
Andrew Emmott ◽  
Will Rawes ◽  
...  

Macadamia is an essential commodity crop in Malawi. The nuts are a lucrative commodity and are used for household consumption, income generation among farming families and as a foreign exchange earning crop at country-level. Macadamia production in Malawi has increased significantly in recent years. Malawi is the seventh top producer of macadamia nuts valued at £23.5 million, with a global market share of 3%. In 2018, the country was the fourth-largest exporter of macadamia nuts that were valued at £18.2 million. The majority (90%) of this crop was grown by large commercial estates with smallholder’s production only contributing about 10% of the total crop production. However, the smallholder sector is vital for the future growth of the macadamia sector in the country. Further, Malawian smallholders consider macadamia production as a low-input crop with large returns per unit area (£10.7 kg−1 ha−1), and it thus a lucrative commodity with high potential for poverty reduction and wealth creation among these farming families. This paper, therefore, explores: (i) the historical and current trends in macadamia nut production in Malawi; (ii) analyses the country’s macadamia value chain focusing on smallholder farmer contributions; and (iii) discusses the constraints of smallholder macadamia production in Malawi for informed policymaking. We conclude that the synthesis of the Malawian macadamia sub-sector provides an understanding of the vital contributions of macadamia to Malawi’s economic growth and improvement of livelihoods.

Author(s):  
Emmanuel Junior Zuza ◽  
Shonil Bhagwat ◽  
Andrew Emmott ◽  
Will Rawes ◽  
Kadmiel Maseyk ◽  
...  

Macadamia (Macadamia integrifolia) nuts have become an essential commodity crop in Malawi. The nuts are a lucrative commodity and are used for household consumption and income generation among farming families and as a foreign exchange earning crop at country-level. In addition, macadamia production has increased significantly in recent years in the country. Currently, Malawi is the seventh top producer of macadamia nuts, with a global market share of three percent (1,846 metric tonnes on kernel basis). In 2018, exports of macadamia kernel had a value of US$24.3 million (£19.8 million or MKW 18.01 billion). However, the bulk (85%) of the crop is grown on large commercial plantations, but the smallholder sector is emerging as vital for the future growth of the macadamia sub-sector in Malawi. Furthermore, Malawian smallholders consider macadamia production to be a low-input crop with large returns per unit area (US$14.37 kg-1ha-1 or MKW 10,701kg-1ha-1) thus a lucrative crop with high potential for poverty reduction and wealth creation among these farming families. This paper, therefore, explores: (i) the historical and current trends in macadamia nut production in Malawi; (ii) analyses the country’s macadamia value chain and (iii) discusses the constraints of macadamia production in Malawi for informed policymaking. Thus, the synthesis of the Malawian macadamia sub-sector provides an understanding of the vital contributions of macadamias to Malawi’s economic growth and improvement of livelihoods.


2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-110
Author(s):  
Jeevan J. Arakal ◽  
Rajeev Roy

Dr Vanita Viswanath, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Udyogini, and her team have been working with lac producers in the Indian state of Jharkhand. The protagonists in the case have been helping the lac producers overcome the productivity and transactional constraints in their value chain. This case captures the key facets of the intervention, the outcomes and the various perspectives the team had taken in evaluating its intervention in the lac value chain. The process of measuring the impact at the base of the pyramid and the impact for the small producers on parameters of institution building, wealth creation and poverty reduction are the focal points of this case. Vital decisions have to be taken by Dr Viswanath and team based on this evaluation from the point of view of the lac producers.


Author(s):  
Mwinyikione Mwinyihija

The review study closely introspects’ on the prerequisites of evidence-based curriculum within the realms of specialized skills development agenda as pursued through higher education Institutions in Africa. Explicitly, the constraining factors that bedevil the leather sector are identifiable when appropriate research designs tools are applied. As such, in the process of identifying the constraints, renascence themes could, therefore, be beneficial in collecting evidence in support of developing curriculum. Such a developed curriculum stands higher chances of acceptability and aptly mitigates against challenges related to specialized skills development. The review succinctly indicates that in the process of identifying the themes, the scope of collecting evidence becomes attainable, thus, improving curricula that entails a participatory and transformative orientation. Indeed, during the review phase of the study, three main perspectives are depicted to be consequential in attaining a comprehensive, evidence-based curriculum, such as; action research, backward curriculum design perspective and theoretical perspective. Therefore, about this perspective, a reflection based on personal experiences and related to new knowledge with what they already know leads to constructivism. The relevancy of a constructivist strategy is observed to facilitate the observatory and evaluative stance during the development of evidence-based curriculum. Moreover, in consolidating and sustaining the benefit of such a developed curriculum, threshold concept was found during the review that it complements the process and strengthens the collecting evidence for curriculum development. Accordingly, therefore, the result of the review study indicate that Africa would  position itself for initiating transformational changes in aspects of specialized higher education, fruition towards socio-economic benefits (e.g. employment, wealth creation and technology transfer), reversal of urban-rural or inter/intra continental migration flurry.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-25
Author(s):  
Isah Funtua Abubakar ◽  
Umar Bambale Ibrahim

This paper attempts to study the Nigerian agriculture industry as a panacea to growth as well as an anchor to the diversification agenda of the present government. To do this, the time series data of the four agriculture subsectors of crop production, livestock, forestry and fishery were analysed as stimulus to the Real GDP from 1981-2016 in order to explicate the individual contributions of the subsectors to the RGDP in order to guide the policy thrust on diversification. Using the Johansen approach to cointegration, all the variables were found to be cointegrated. With the exception of the forestry subsector, all the three subsectors were seen to have impacted on the real GDP at varying degrees during the time under review. The crop production subsector has the highest impact, however, taking size-by-size analysis, the livestock subsector could be of much importance due to its ability to retain its value chain and high investment returns particularly in poultry. Therefore, it is recommended that, the government should intensify efforts to retain the value chain in the crop production subsector, in order to harness its potentials optimally through the encouragement of the establishment of agriculture cottage industries. Secondly, the livestock subsector is found to be the most rapidly growing and commercialized subsector. Therefore, it should be the prime subsector to hinge the diversification agenda naturally. Lastly, the tourism industry which is a source through which the impact of the subsector is channeled to the GDP should be developed, in order to improve the impact of such channel to GDP with the sole objective to resuscitate the forestry subsector.


Author(s):  
Johan Swinnen ◽  
Rob Kuijpers

Understanding the development implications of agri-food standards and global value chains is crucial, as they are a fundamental component of developing countries’ growth potential and could increase rural incomes and reduce poverty, but at the same time they present serious challenges and could lead to further marginalization of the poor. This chapter reviews some of the implications of the spread of stringent standards associated with global value chains for developing countries and global poverty reduction. The chapter focuses on five aspects: the interaction between standards and value chain governance; the effects on agricultural productivity and smallholder welfare; farm-level and institutional spillovers; labor market and gender effects; and the interaction between liberalization policies and value chains.


Agriculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 462
Author(s):  
Hongyu Wang ◽  
Xiaolei Wang ◽  
Apurbo Sarkar ◽  
Lu Qian

Market-based initiatives like agriculture value chain (AVC) are becoming progressively pervasive to support smallholder rural farmers and assist them in entering larger market interventions and providing a pathway of enhancing their socioeconomic well-being. Moreover, it may also foster staggering effects towards the post-era poverty alleviation in rural areas and possessed a significant theoretical and practical influence for modern agricultural development. The prime objective of the study is to explore the effects of smallholder farmers’ participation in the agricultural value chain for availing rural development and poverty alleviation. Specifically, we have crafted the assessment employing pre-production (improved fertilizers usage), in-production (modern preservation technology), and post-production (supply chain) participation and interventions of smallholder farmers. The empirical data has been collected from a micro survey dataset of 623 kiwifruit farmers from July to September in Shaanxi, China. We have employed propensity score matching (PSM), probit, and OLS models to explore the multidimensional poverty reduction impact and heterogeneity of farmers’ participation in the agricultural value chain. The results show that the total number of poor farmers who have experienced one-dimensional and two-dimensional poverty is relatively high (66.3%). We also find that farmers’ participation in agricultural value chain activities has a significant poverty reduction effect. The multidimensional poverty level of farmers using improved fertilizer, organizational acquisition, and using storage technology (compared with non-participating farmers) decreased by 30.1%, 46.5%, and 25.0%, respectively. The multidimensional poverty reduction degree of male farmers using improved fertilizer and participating in the organizational acquisition is greater than that of women. The multidimensional poverty reduction degree of female farmers using storage and fresh-keeping technology has a greater impact than the males using storage and improved storage technology. Government should widely promote the value chain in the form of pre-harvest, production, and post-harvest technology. The public–private partnership should also be strengthened for availing innovative technologies and infrastructure development.


2014 ◽  
pp. 28-35
Author(s):  
Andrew Liang

China’s massive capital accumulation, economic ascent and wealth production has largely been the result of their rapid urbanization effort. While it is indisputable that the country has largely succeeded in its economic reform efforts given its status as the world’s second largest economy and in that process lifted hundreds of millions of its population out of poverty, it has also, in that process, created severe social inequality and friction. This essay largely argues that Chinese cities are purpose-built financial instruments for capital accumulation, a result of the forces of globalization which could only have happened in sync with the time and space of a global economy. Though highly successful, so far the process has marginalized the objective of social integration into its performative matrix indexing. In this regard China has pursued an exploitive model of market driven urbanization and the resultant morphological and spatial attributes of the Chinese cities, while having achieved spectacular results on many levels, are nevertheless disjunctive. They are commodities of generic sameness that are mass-produced and exhibit the same anesthetizing effects of the spectacle that are ever prevalent in today’s global market production process, product and place. Recognizing that globalization and capitalism are here to stay in the immediate future, it begs the question if China, while having already undertaken extreme economic reform experimentations allowing it to now bask in its temporal success, will be able to leverage its acquired market knowledge and wealth creation to prospectively overcome the incredibly complex challenge of creating equitable cities in the future — ones that balance the demands of capital production on the one hand and social equity on the other — or rather will it sink deeper into the “neoliberal modern society” that it has already become.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 268
Author(s):  
Olivia Muza

El-Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is the most recurrent change in climate impacting agriculture productivity and food security. This study investigates ENSO impacts on four cereal crops (maize, millet, sorghum and wheat) using crop production and climate datasets spanning the years 1960-2015. The results of this study reveal that during El Nino (La Nina) maize, sorghum and wheat production decreases (increases) while that of millet increases (decreases). Even though, the correlation is statistically significant for maize only, the outcome is a call to review the macro-food policy taking into account ENSO-related phase effects to redress food insecurity. The study recommends incentives for agricultural productivity including irrigation intensification and small grain value chain development, trade and food security arrangements, income generation opportunities and strategic partnerships for improved food and nutrition security.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-121
Author(s):  
Fernando Romana

Abstract Objective: The aim of this paper is to understand a production system of a forging and presses structure of a centenary factory in terms of a cultural change on the management approach. Methodology: The study was focused on many aspects such as the pieces production lead time, a time study of the setups, the Overall Equipment Effectiveness determination for the Computer Numeric Control machinery and an analysis of the production cells operational flow. Findings: For the aspects that were analysed during the study, the problems are identified, and the root causes determined. At the end of the assessment stage Lean tools and concepts for fixing the problems were proposed, like new rules for production planning, setups procedures, 5S toll usage and a Lean implementation plan that is adapted to the company. Value Added: The high industrial competitivity has dictated the development for this sector that – allied with the inconstant and unstable economic environment – makes the companies very vulnerable and highly dependent of the global market. This is a concern of special relevance for the Small and Medium Size companies that are increasingly adopting Lean solutions to continuously improve their operational value chain and the management approach, for a more systemic way of thinking. Recommendations: For some of the solutions an impact study with their implementation was made. An analysis of the success factors proposed in the literature that were verified during the assessment stage of the case study was performed as well.


Author(s):  
Jon Manhire

High-value consumer markets are demanding a continuously higher quality of products and enhanced food safety. In association with this, the increasingly competitive global market place and developments in information technology have catalysed the establishment of closer relationships and co-operation between participants in high-value supply chains. These closer relationships enhance the flow of information between participants and their ability to introduce strategies to improve efficiencies in supply as well as to decrease risks to consumers and others in the supply chain. These trends have significant implications to New Zealand farmers who will need to adopt systems to more effectively monitor and record their use of inputs and subsequent farm and stock management and make this information available to those further down the value chain. An inability to respond to these trends may result in farmers as well as processors, limited to servicing only relatively lower value markets. Keywords: agricultural sector, information technology, New Zealand, supply chain integration, supply chain management


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