The export value of cocoa beans and cocoa-based downstream products is expected to continue to increase this year after recording an encouraging increase last year, following the positive trend of demand for local products abroad.
The Deputy Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities Datuk Seri Dr Wee Jeck Seng said the export value of cocoa beans and cocoa products increased 9.6 per cent to RM6.87 billion last year compared with RM6.27 billion in 2020.
“This year, from January to May alone, as much as RM3.2 billion in export value has been recorded, proving that this sector has potential,” he told reporters after officiating the Tanjung Piai chocolate entrepreneurship centre here today.
Among the cocoa-based downstream products that are in high demand are cocoa powder, cocoa paste and chocolate products with great demand coming from the Middle East and ASEAN countries.
We said various programmes have been created by the government through the Entrepreneur Development Programme for Homemade Chocolate under the Entrepreneur Development Project for Homemade Chocolate and the Cocoa Promotion Programme in the 12th Malaysia Plan to produce more entrepreneurs and high-value cocoa-based local products.
He said the programme has successfully developed 242 handmade chocolate entrepreneurs across the country so far. Therefore, he said the newly opened entrepreneurship centre is expected to help in generating local income, especially for the B40 group and also the youth.
“This entrepreneurship centre is the first to be developed in collaboration with the Malaysian Cocoa Board (LKM) and the Institute of Malaysian Plantation and Commodities (IMPAC).
“Anyone who is interested, we will give them training. We want to produce valuable entrepreneurs using the right business model so that when they go through training from one level to the next, they will create a product and give a good return,” he said.
He said the course participants would be given exposure to handmade chocolate-making skills, the basics of entrepreneurship as well as assistance in marketing and selling products at the same premises as a kick-start support service to become a chocolate entrepreneur.
“At the initial stage of implementation, this centre is scheduled to guide as many as 300 potential entrepreneurs. “This centre is able to create opportunities to generate income for the B40 people in this area who are interested in venturing into the handmade chocolate manufacturing industry,” he added.
Poor smallholder farmers may jointly be contributing K323 billion towards the Affordable Inputs Programme (AIP) in the coming growing season, a jump from K52 billion amidst continued rising fertiliser prices.
Our spot checks in agro-shops show that prices of AIP targeted CAN and Urea have jumped further from around K50 000 two months ago to between K55 000 and K65 000, a development which the Fertiliser Association of Malawi (FAM), an umbrella body of fertiliser suppliers has confirmed.
The increase is attributed to the 25 percent devaluation of the local currency and the war between Ukraine and Russia, major fertiliser supplies.
FAM chief executive officer Mbawaka Brandy Phiri said: “The prices are now between K55 000 and K 65 000 depending on the region. Southern Region is always cheaper due to lower distribution costs.
“The global market prices have been very volatile these past few months and are unpredictable. [In Malawi] prices have been affected both by the war in Ukraine and the devaluation of the kwacha.”
Calculated on the average price of K60 000 per bag, the K323 billion farmers’ contribution translates to 3.5 million AIP beneficiaries paying K92 000 each to redeem two 50-kilogramme bags.
Last growing season, a farmer only required K15 000 to redeem the two bags which government pegged at K25 000 each.
The expected increase has stirred fears that poor farmers will suffer food insecurity as they will not be able to generate funds to redeem the fertiliser.
Traditional Authority Lulanga of Mangochi said he was worried that his subjects might not afford the commodity.
“We have heard that the prices will be increased. That will pose a serious challenge to most peasant farmers who will not have enough resources to buy the fertiliser.
“Already, raising K7 500 is no mean effort for some farmers. So, what if it’s K40 000 or more. I fear most underprivileged families will struggle to make themselves food secure,” he said.
Additionally, in the 2022/23 National Budget, AIP has been allocated K109.5 billion which is a K33 billion lower than the previous year’s K142 billion.
Of the K109.5 billion, like last year, K12 billion is expected to be invested in subsidising maize seeds. This leaves the fertiliser package with a K97 billion kit.
At the current fertiliser price, to supply all the targeted farmers with the two fertiliser bags, there is a need for K420 billion, which minus the budgetary allocation leaves the farmers with the K323 billion problem.
Meanwhile, Phiri has proposed that government should free the suppliers to determine how much farmers will pay as top up.
“FAM is advocating for the government to adopt a flexible top up approach which will allow companies to determine the top up amount and force them to compete for customers on price, quality and service.
“This was done previously, and successfully so, with Fisp [Farm Inputs Subsidy Programme, the AIP predecessor]. Government can then allocate a fixed contribution to each farmer knowing that any price changes will not affect the overall AIP budget.
“Given that currently the fertiliser prices are very volatile this would be the best way to address the problem while ensuring that AIP remains a sustainable programme,”she said.
The capping of AIP fertiliser at K25 000 is widely viewed to have contributed to erratic supply in most parts of the country.
Farmers Union of Malawi chief executive officer Jacob Nyirongo also shared Phiri’s sentiments: “The mixed performance of the programme can largely be attributed to the fixing of the fertiliser price of the 50kg bag which affected availability of fertiliser on the market, especially during the 2021/2022 season.
“Malawi imports all of its fertilisers and has no control over production and transport costs. Fixing the fertiliser subsidy price puts fiscal pressure on government and affects the sustainability of the programme.
Ministry of Agriculture spokesperson Gracian Lungu said the government is expected to reform the programme’s implementation.
“We will soon announce the reforms and that will be the appropriate time for the nation to know what we have planned. What I can say is that the pricing is one of the areas that will influence some of the reform areas,” he said.
Russia is the fourth largest producer of chemical fertilisers in the world. Ukraine is also among the top 20, and Belarus is a major player too. Collectively, these three countries produce about 10 percent of the world’s nitrogen and phosphorus fertilisers, and 35 percent of the world’s potassium.
“Although Malawi imports most of its fertilisers from China, United Arab Emirates and India the global deficits will push the price up,” forecasted Mwapata Institute, a policy think tank, in its report filed in April this year.
As a way forward, Mwapata said there was need for an agreement on “AIP reforms as soon as possible to improve land, labour and fertiliser productivity for locally produced maize and legumes.
“Avoid delays in the procurement and delivery of AIP inputs for the 2022/23 season, given that fertilisers are likely to be in short supply on the world market.”
After a year of introducing smallholder farmers to the Forest Watcher Mobile App, the Rainforest Alliance counts their achievement of growing and monitoring over 9,000 trees in the Sui River landscape.
As part of measures to get rid of fake and illegal agrochemicals on the market, CropLife Ghana has taken steps to coordinate with the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) to identify hotspot areas where some of these products are heavily distributed across the country.
Chief Corporate Communications Officer-Jospong Group of Companies, Sophia Kudjordji, has revealed that excessive use of chemical fertiliser is removing nutrients from fertile lands and rendering farmlands less viable for agricultural production purposes; a situation likely to bring about food shortages in the near future.
Perennial post-harvest losses, according to the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG), have compelled many farmers to reduce their farm sizes – a situation that can cause food shortage and worsen the current upsurge of food prices in the country.
Dr. Charles Nyaaba, the Executive Director of PFAGy, says inadequate technology, poor storage facilities, bad roads and even improper handling of produce have been the main driving factors of post-harvest losses, hence the need for government to step up efforts to address the age-old problem.
“The country’s post-harvest situation has not experienced any positive change. The infrastructure and feeder roads to farming communities are still bad. “Farms have to sell their produce on time to avoid keeping them and encountering post-harvest losses. There are other instances when farmers have to ensure that they do not produce in large quantities, so they reduce their farm sizes to what they can take care of,”.
Data from the Ghana Statistical Service indicate that food inflation hit 30.7 percent in June, representing 1.6 percentage points higher than the non-food basket which recorded 29.1 percent.
For Dr. Nyaaba, government must prioritise and intentionally invest in the agriculture sector, as farmers continue to use primitive methods in production.
“If you take a crop like soya beans, farmers have to harvest using their hands; and because the rainfall patterns are not reliable, if they are unable to harvest them on time. They scatter and can have about 40 percent losses. Same for rice, especially when access to combine harvesters is difficult and expensive during the time other farmers are also harvesting. I once lost part of my rice farm to bush-fire because we could not finish early,” he noted.
Declined quality Discussing post-harvest handling of grain at the recent Ghana Commodity Exchange (GCX) webinar ahead of harvesting time, Chief Scientific Officer at the Ghana Standard Authority, Dr. Roseline Esi Amoah, noted that there will always be poor quality of produce – especially when farmers do not have much knowledge of handling and adequate technology to make the products sound and proper for the market.
“At each stage, it is very important for farmers to know how to handle the grain. Because at each stage there is a quality loss. Now, we have farmers who can leave harvested grain on the field because they do not have enough technology. If you have a mechanical thresher, it is easier; but if you are going to do it by stripping and rubbing you will have a lot of broken grain with dust and chaff, and that can cause insect infestation,” she said.
She added that without proper storage facilities, produce is left on the field at the mercy of the weather; meanwhile, improper handling can lead to microbes, aflatoxin and other mycotoxin infestation of grain, making it unsafe.
Cassava has become such a staple in Africa that many may be shocked to find out that it is not an indigenous root to the continent.
It is originally a South American root vegetable that was brought to Africa by Portuguese traders in the 16th century.
Nigeria is the world’s leading cassava producer. So, what makes it so versatile? Cassava is quite easy to grow. It flourishes in low-rainfall areas with poor soil.
It’s a perennial crop with a long harvesting season and it is versatile to grow due to its non-seasonal character. Unlike other basic foods, cassava-based meals are widely consumed throughout Africa.
An investigation conducted by the NCBI showed that cassava was introduced to Burkina Faso, former Upper Volta from the costal countries, Gold Coast (now Ghana), by both local traders and the Roman Catholic missionaries.
This happened between the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. The main variety introduced was banfti.
Some improved varieties like Banké and KTMA developed by research are now available and used by farmers, along with the traditional varieties like manchien, santidougou, tchinda yaar and léo. “The top of cassava production is reached in July. Most of the small‐scale farmers (98%) grow cassava both for household use and as income generator.
About 83.92% of farmers have less than 10 tons as annual production and only 1.72% of them can produce more than 100 tons.
The main food products based on cassava found in communities are raw roots, boiled roots, roasted roots, tô, attiéké, tapioca, ragout, beignets, boiled leaves, soup (with leaves), cassava juice, etc. And the main cassava‐processed products in the processing units are attiéké, gari, tapioca, and flour,” the study said. “Cassava contributes greatly to household food security during food shortage period. It sustains families for weeks as food and is also exchanged with other foods or sold to buy food or meet household needs.”
The dangers of consuming raw, unwashed cassava This root vegetable can be harmful if eaten uncooked, in excessive quantities or prepared incorrectly.
Cyanogenic glycosides are compounds found in raw cassava. These can cause your body to emit cyanide if you eat them. Consuming cyanogenic glycosides on a regular basis or in large quantities raises the risk of cyanide poisoning.
Thyroid and nerve dysfunction, paralysis, organ damage and even death have all been linked to cyanide overdose. Because protein aids in the removal of cyanide from the body, people with a poor nutritional condition and a low protein consumption are more prone to suffer from these side effects.
These toxic compounds are reduced in cassava after it has been soaked and cooked. Furthermore, combining the root vegetable with a well-balanced, high-protein diet may lower your chance of negative health results.
In September 2017, a suspected cyanide poisoning epidemic in western Uganda resulted in 98 illnesses and two deaths. The outbreak was traced back to eating a cassava flour dish made from wild cassava cultivars with significant cyanogenic content, according to epidemiological and analytical findings.
Uses for cassava
Chips. Cassava chips are a delicious and healthy snack, made from diced, salted and fried cultivars with lower cyanide levels. The chips, also known as bobozee and abacha mmiri in Nigeria, are produced from boiling, fermented and sliced cassava tubers. Groundnuts and coconuts are used to enjoy this delicacy.
Flour. Cassava flour is prepared from dried tubers that have been chopped and fermented. The tubers are pounded into powder after drying to make a silky white flour. The vegetable can be mashed with sorghum and millet in Uganda. Bread, cookies and pudding are all made from cassava flour. The pudding is produced with hot water and served with local soups as a main course.
Fufu. Another popular dish is fufu, that is prepared by cooking and pounding fermented cassava tubers into a pulp. Traditional soups are served with fufu. Nigeria, Ghana, Togo and Sierra Leone are among the countries in West Africa where this cuisine is popular.
Beer. In 2011, a business in Mozambique started making the world’s first cassava-brewed beer. The beer was once locally manufactured before the corporation began to manufacture and market it abroad. Other nations that make the beer include Nigeria, Ghana, Congo and Uganda.
A food additive. Processed cassava is used in confectionery and food industries to manufacture food additives like monosodium glutamate which is used as a spice. Caramel, a culinary colour used in drinks, is similarly made from cassava.
A rice mill located at Kpekparigu-Kukuo in the Kumbungu district of the Northern Region – meant to facilitate the processing of local rice produced within the area – has been abandoned for years, checks by the B&FT have confirmed.
