Centre for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry has equipped mango farmers with skills on how to take care of their produce to fetch more money.

Speaking in Salima on Wednesday when smallholder mango farmers from Kasungu and Mzimba districts visited Malawi Mangoes Limited, Kasungu district horticulturalist Samuel Kumpolota emphasised the need for farmers to have links with markets.

He said: “We wanted the farmers to understand the process of taking care of a mango tree from planting to harvesting.

Kumpolota: Know about mango varieties

“Farmers should also understand different varieties of mangoes that are marketable.”

One of the smallholder mango growers, Rose Kamanga, said she learned a lot during the visit to Malawi Mangoes Limited.

“At first I did not take the business seriously, but now my perception has changed with the training from the organisation,” she said.

Centre for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry Malawi senior scaling up officer in agroforestry Christopher Katema said there is potential in the mango value chain that can enhance the livelihoods of smallholder farmers.

“The challenge is that many fruit growers are failing to find a market for their fibreless mangoes and some abandoned their improved orchards in favour of other crops,” he said.

Katema said his organisation has provided opportunities to smallholder fruit growers in Malawi, particularly those supported through the Agroforestry Food Security Programme (AFSP I and II) funded by the Irish Aid and the Flemish Government to find markets for their produce.

“We have facilitated for the farmers to sell their fibreless mangoes to Malawi Mangoes Limited in Salima,” he said.

The organisation is running a project to co-develop and test interventions and devise policy options to enhance women’s engagement in high potential, low carbon food tree value chains.

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