Agricultural Productivity in Malawi

Increasing agricultural productivity has been the main agenda for agricultural experts in many countries including Malawi. Because of the effects of climatic change on agricultural productivity, researchers have found ways to improve productivity for smallholder and commercial farmers alike, the former for increased food security and the latter for increased profits. However, so many years after the introduction of the yielding varieties, still being developed by many researchers from the whole wide world, the globe is still facing food insecurity for most people on the planet earth. The use of inorganic fertilizers has ameliorated the problem of low agricultural productivity, however, in most developing countries, food insecurity still persists every year. What could be the problem? In my own opinion, I would say many developing countries have failed to address the issue of soil productivity and have rushed to think the use of high yielding varieties and use of inorganic fertilizers will solve the problems. I believe that the issue has to be tackled at its root, which in my opinion is that most soils have lost their productivity capacities and hence the technologies have failed to make an impact on total agricultural productivity. In this essay, I will therefore discuss the nature of the extent of low soil productivity and make suggestions on how the problem could be solved using sustainable approaches.

Soil productivity can be defined as the capacity of the soil to support vibrant plant growth, which would result into increased crop productivity. Soil productivity is a function of a number of components in the soil such as nutrient availability, moisture availability, water holding capacity and the soil structure among others. ...

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...h would improve water holding capacity of the soil, most most soils in Malawi cannot hold enough water that would improve the moisture content of the soil. This makes it difficult for nutients to be dissolved and eb available to plants resulting into low soil productivity which lead to low crop productivity. Additionally, management practices that are encourage excessive run off also contribute to the absence of moisture in the soil because most of the rainwater is rushed into rivers and streams instead of remaining in the soil for plant growth. The evidence of this is shwn when the country experiences short dry spelss during the growing season where most fields ( particularly of maize crop)experience wilting of crops which might eventually affect producvitity. According to Yates (2009), dry spells and drought destroys on average 4.6% of maize production in Malawi.