Agriculture in Malawi

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AGRICULTURE IN MALAWI Agriculture is the practice of farming including cultivation on the soil for the growing of crops and the rearing of animals with provision food as well as income. Malawi is one of country in the world which practices agriculture and also depends much on it for economic growth. And most Malawians practice agriculture for food and income. In Malawi few farmers keep work animals because of high cost of keeping them .The cost of buying large work animals is considerable the major income realized by most smallholder farmers. Feeding is also a major concern for farmers because the land is used to grow food and cash crops. Instead of feeds, farmers graze their livestock on the bush growing on the side of the road, forest reserves and few fields where there is sufficient amount of weeds and grass. And to buy supplement feed and nutrients for their animals is also a great challenge for smallholder farmers. The major crops grown by smallholders’ farmers in Malawi include; tobacco, maize, peanuts, cassava, cotton just to mention a few. However, farmers sell these crops to supplement income. Other vegetables are grown in the villages such as cabbage, tomatoes, potatoes, sweet potatoes and beans. Agriculture as the backbone of Malawi’s economy constitutes 35% of the Gross Domestic Product, 80% of the total employment in addition to provision of food, raw materials and contributes 80% to foreign exchange earnings (Andrew T. Daudi (PhD). Plantation crops are ones such crops which provide employment to many Malawians especially in estates of Mulanje, Thyolo, Blantyre, Nkhatabay, Dwangwa and Chikhwawa. These crops include Tea, Coffee, Sugarcane and Macadamia. Finished products from these crops are mostly exported thereby attracting foreign exchange for the country. Sugarcanes are perhaps the only source of Malawi’s sugar. The current supply of Macadamia nuts

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