Ceasar H Mkandawire - Articles

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Assessing Utilization of Low-input Agriculture Technologies (liats) in Malawi: Adoption and Challenges for the Malawian Subsistence Farmer
A study was conducted to assess the extent of organic farming as a low-input agriculture technology in Malawi. The study was done using key-informant interviews and internet search. Many of the key-informants interviewed said that use of external inputs in agriculture has its problems, like groundwater contamination and environmental degradation through use of agrichemicals. Few farmers in Malawi practice organic farming as a strategy for low input agriculture and most of them said their produce does not have a ready market. However, agriculture experts outlined several low-input agriculture technologies that organic farmers engage in, in crop production. Many subsistence farmers practice low input agriculture, which does not involve external inputs or the principles of organic farming, due to factors like unaffordability of external inputs, lack of knowledge of organic farming and other factors like gender and HIV and AIDS which affects farm labour. Read
By: Ceasar H Mkandawire | 04/09/2007 | Investing
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Re-discover Some of the Underutilized and Neglected Crops of the World With a View to Broaden our Food Resource Base: Finger Millet (eleusine Coracana
Finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L) Gaertn.) produces seed heads that look like ‘hands’ with the grain contained in the ‘digits’, hence the name. Some of the hands are curled into ‘fists’ (Fig. 3a). It is an important traditional crop in Africa and Asia. The crop has been claimed to be lost, but is not. This African native crop has its origins in the highlands of Uganda and Ethiopia, where farmers have been growing it for thousands of years. In some parts of southern Africa (e.g. Chitipa district in Malawi) as well as in India, it has been a staple upon which millions of people depends. Despite its importance, however, finger millet is grossly neglected both scientifically and socially. Compared to the research done on maize, rice and wheat, it receives almost none. In fact, most parts of the world have never heard of it, and for countries that grow this crop, they have left it to languish and refer to it as a ‘poor persons crop’ or a ‘famine food’, or, even worse, ‘birdseed’. Read
By: Ceasar H Mkandawire | 24/07/2007 | College and University
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Re-discover Some of the Underutilized and Neglected Crops of the World With a View to Broaden our Food Resource Base: Cat's Whisker's
This is a continuation of the previous articles on this website. Cat’s whisker’s is a leafy vegetable, which normally grows as a weed. Some farmers, however, cultivate the crop for consumption. In most countries of Africa, this vegetable is not cultivated for commercial purposes as evidenced by its scarcity in produce markets. The vegetable has however been rated as one of the most nutritious. Read
By: Ceasar H Mkandawire | 24/07/2007 | College and University
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1. Re-discover Some of the Underutilized and Neglected Crops of the World With a View to Broaden our Food Resource Base:
Amaranthus is a tropical vegetable, which has been cultivated for thousands of years.These plants have not yet received any attention from agricultural scientists in Southern Africa, as they have not been considered to show promise as a commercial crop. Amaranthus is one of the oldest food crops in the new world, with evidence of cultivation reaching back as far as 6700 BC (Agogino 1957; MacNeish, 1971). This is probably owing to the ability of these plants to adapt readily to new environments, Read
By: Ceasar H Mkandawire | 20/07/2007 | College and University
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Re-discover Some of the Underutilized and Neglected Crops of the World With a View to Broaden our Food Resource Base: Bambara Groundnut
Underutilized crops are those crops which have been grown for thousands of years by indigenous peoples, but due to the advent of "new" high yielding breeds, these crops are being marginalized. However, the indigenous crops are better suited to their local environments than exotic breeds. This article is one in a series which will describe Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea (L.) Verdc.)as one of the underutilized crops. Read
By: Ceasar H Mkandawire | 20/07/2007 | College and University