Hyperlink Document: Description of Service (DOS), Peace Corps Malawi 2002-2004

Macadamia: Approach Grafting in the Field

approach-grafting macadamia

MACADAMIA PROJECT

As mentioned a few times previously, it was my forestry counterpart, Mr. K. Ng’ambi, who demonstrated the first interest in macadamia which spurred me to look into it, and once begun, it was greeted with reasonable enthusiasm from the community. But, our first issue at hand was to become self-sustaining in the generation of planting material, so you could really say that this project was about nursery work, the precursor to any orchard development.

Suitability of region

It turned out that our local climate was "suitable" for macadamia. In the warmer tropics it is often grown in the highlands, and in Chisenga we sat at about 1500 meters. It wants a minimum of 1000 mm of annual rainfall, and prefers it evenly spaced, which explains why it was doing so well in those drippy places like Mzuzu and Nkhata Bay. The zones in Chitipa were these: along Mafinga Hills, the highlands of Wenya, and Misuku Hills.

Previous programs forgotten

It turned out a few trees did exist from previous programs (>10 years ago). There were old "bushes" in Chisenga, these were stunted unproductive trees, and though in the ADD orchard, left unmanaged. There were also trees in Misuku, behind the Agriculture Station. These were reasonably looked after and producing a crop which was promptly stolen by local children. None of these trees were tagged as to cultivar type.

Getting knowledge on macadamia

I set out to get knowledge about macadamia from Lunyangwa Agricultural Research Station. I met Mr. J.R. Nyirenda, a sociable and helpful fellow, responsible for all nut tree crops. I learned the basics of propagation and nursery work from him and practically wrote a small book about it right on the spot, knowing I would have no access to computer, library, or any other source once back in Chisenga. A more apt and annoying pupil he could not have found.

Setting out to get seeds

On my second visit to Lunyangwa, I hoped to acquire seeds, as Mr. J.R. Nyirenda had told me this was the season of harvest. First, I had to hunt down J.R., then J.R. and I had to hunt down the nurseryman. We walked across crop fields to check at his home. Not there. We were informed he was at his farm so we walked over. Not there. We turned to go as someone yelled at us from the top of the next hill, “He’s coming, wait.” After some time he appeared over the horizon and made his way to us. The sun was beating down on my head; I was hot and hadn’t had a drop of water. It always worked this way – me in the middle of a field somewhere, hatless, persevering. Often a small task could consume a whole day.

Seeds got

My patience paid off. The nurseryman had seeds. He had actually planted them that morning and dug them up for me. I carried away some 200 seeds in a bag with wet sand, elated. Now I had to get the seeds back to Chisenga and I left the following day by my normal mode of transport: minibus to Karonga, loaded lorry Karonga to Chitipa, then back of a pickup to Chisenga. On the third day I arrived in Chisenga.

Seeds planted – lessons learned

The farmers though they were forewarned to be ready to plant the seeds, where hardly prepared at all. I had to do individual training and my counterparts were just learning at that time. Still we got them planted within the week. Being our first attempt, I figured we were poised to learn a great deal - and we did. Our germination rate was abysmal, around 20-25%. There were two main issues contributing to this: 1) The initial seeds were probably not that fresh, 2) the farmers planted them at their homes and thus it was hard to maintain quality control.

Lessons implemented

The second year we reorganized into 4 nursery sites (1 in Chambo, 1 in Bugulira, and two in Misuku Hills). In this new system, the farmers worked cooperatively at the centralized nursery sites, enabling us (the extension workers) to supervise the quality of the work. The seed beds had been redesigned for greater drainage and the work was well carried out in advance. The seeds at Lunyangwa had all been stolen by small children, so I went to Kawalazi Estate in Nkhata Bay. That was simply amazing, they have 8000 hectares almost completely dedicated to growing macadamia. The division director dropped what he was doing and escorted me out to collect seeds. I even got transport in the Peace Corps vehicle all the way up to Chisenga (that was reason enough to celebrate). That year we achieved better than 90% germination rate.

Mr Bernard Nyondo (Wagona) in his tobacco field where he has started planting macadamia trees

wagona-w-tobacco

ADVANCED FRUIT FARMER'S GROUP

I established a group that extended beyond macadamia as the interest grew and other farmer's continually asked for more information about growing fruit trees. There was a great deal of interest of course in improved cultivars and local techniques were as simple as "some one ate and threw a mango seed over there and it sprouted".

Mangos were typically left because they were valued. So you see them here and there poking up all over this part of Africa, in the middle of crop fields. The prized local version was called "Mangododo" a rather large stringless variety (but quite strong turpentine overtones), as opposed to the "local mango" which was very stringy and rather small. In the market the price for these larger mangoes was perhaps K3 versus 50 tambala (3 cents to 1/2 a cent) for the local variety.

I discussed top-working with my counterpart in the agriculture department, Mr. C.Y.D. Mkandawire, which is a technique of grafting improved cultivars (varieties) onto mature trees in the field, to improve fruit quality. Usually this entails taking a 10 cm size branch and grafting several scions to it, often by cutting a wedge and stripping back the back then retacking the bark afterward.

Some time later, Mr. Mkandawire invited me over to his house. He said he wanted to show me something, and there - right away to the back left of his house he had done it, top worked (grafted) Mangododo on top of a local mango - not only this, but it was already sprouted and the new leaves quite large, though still soft and redish.

In the photo below, Mr. Emson Silungwe, one of the group's farmers and the secretary of Mulembe Village Development Committee (VDC) is on the left, Mr. C.Y.D. Mkandawire is on the right.

Mango: Top-Working

Advanced fruit farmers group training - at lunch break

TRAININGS

I was the primary trainer at the first few meetings and got quite into it jumping up and down off the front bench and so on trying to make my points. I'm actually a bit of an expressive.

I tried to explain the difference between progress and process. That, as you can imagine, was a difficult one. I taught, half in Tumbuka, half in English, embarking into some furiously drawn diagrams on the board. I always liked to start the training with something of this nature as people tended to come very late to training in Malawi. (Some of my farmers walked as far as 6 miles one-way.)

We next would go into the technical material which was lecture, board, (more diagrams of course) and discussion. We always ended with a practical (hands-on) section which began with a demonstration then time do the practical. Usually Mkandawire, myself, and Mr. Ng'ambi (Wabwera) would walk around to assist. That explains the forest material in the preceding photo (it wasn't just decoration); we did grafting and budding with our simulated materials.

At subsequent trainings, Mkandawire and I would split the training, breaking off the parts that were our respective strengths. This was quite a relief to me.

I traveled more than he and consequently had more exposure to new technologies, but he was sharp, a very fast learner. Consequently, I arranged to take Mkandawire to Mzuzu to see Lunyangwa Agriculture Research Station and Mr. Ng'wira's "Seed and Nursery Services" - a horticulture business and farm at Lusangazi. At Mzuzu we learned a great deal of practical information together, which was wonderful. Mr. Ng'wira's son showed us the farm with special attention on the grafting and budding operations. He shared with us the techniques they found to be successful "on the ground". This was a great relief as we'd been struggling with demonstrating shield or T-cut budding to farmers. He said they found chip budding easier to teach to grafters, affecting their work and success rates.

Mkandawire and I biked all over Mzuzu (Lunyangwa and Lusangazi being somewhat distant from the town center). As we arrived out to these communities he was very surprised when the local children ran behind me yelling "Mazungu, mazungu, mazunguuuuuu ..." ("Mazungu" being "foreigner" or non-black person.) He hadn't known the children do this (somewhat constantly). In Chisenga, the children knew me, and had been coached to use my name - it was more often something like "Mackymillany, mwakata!" ("McMillan, good morning!", in Chinyika.) He was a bit shocked but I assured him I was quite used to it.

nursery-group