Tobacco Auction

Shelling maize cobs

One of our few mechanised processes is shelling maize cobs, a similar principal to a stationary combine harvester, seeds are bagged and the cobs stored for cattle feed.

Shelled cobs used for cattle feed

Maize sheller

Tobacco

Over 70% of Malawi's foreign earnings are from tobacco, it is grown by both large estates and  small holders.  Drying takes place in open sheds (burley) or in heated barns (flue cured).  From April to September the leaves are transported in 100kg bales  to auction floors in Mzuzu, Blantyre and Lilongwe.  Following sale, the bales are trucked to Beira (Mozambique) and exported to the smokers of the world.  Few Malawians can afford to smoke.

Tobacco auction floor

Porters race to the floors

We visited the auction floors in Lilongwe where 10,000 bales are sold daily. It was dusty, noisy and frantically busy.  Much of the handling is done by sack barrow.

Electronic weighing

Average price $1.72 per kilo

Burning

It is traditional to burn the fields after harvest. Much of the bush is set alight, the sparse regrowth of grass is soon parched and dry.

Picnic

We took Ophen, who looks after us at home, for a picnic on Funwe Farm, he was interested to see crops grown and processed on a large scale; he grows sufficient for his extended family in his small garden.

This weekend is the Malawi yachting  marathon up the west coast of the lake; we will wave as it passes our door.

T and I

The Dry Season

Our crops are in store awaiting the processing factory to start up.

The bush is at its highest before it desiccates and thins.   Local vegetation makes ideal thatching material and is very saleable.

Early morning on the way to market with dried thatching grass.

Malawi International Trade Fair is an annual event in Blantyre with a bias on agriculture akin to UK county shows.  Funwe Farm  took a stand and we spent a morning at the Fair which showcased a number of enterprising Malawian cottage industries including those marketing baobab not only as a superfood but also as a  skin product, compost and fabric, also a charity selling donated ex Royal Mail bikes ideal for use on dirt roads.

Ian at the Trade Fair

Trade Fair, entrance fee 85p

  







School
Terri's Standard 8 Class have taken their Junior Certificate Examination, the entrance qualification for secondary school, the pass rate is low and many will finish their education and seek work aged 14+.

Inventive counting aid, bamboo sticks.

Attendance figures for ONE class

 
Southern Region
We took a brief trip to the higher and wetter area south of the lakeshore where hectares of tea have been grown for the last 130 years; the original seeds came from the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh.  Malawi is the second highest tea producer in Africa after Kenya. The landscape is mountainous with rolling foothills planted with tea and coffee.

Mount Mulanje, foreground tea plantations.

 

 

We visited the Satemwa Tea Estate in Thyolo and washed down some carrot cake with local brew, a piece of England in the heart of Africa.

Huntingdon House, Satemwa a beautifully furnished guest house.

Two leaves and a bud, tea harvest.

Tea on the verandah.

More visitors are due this month, Roger and Hannah, Terri's brother and wife then Michael, Ian's brother; both brothers and Hannah have useful experience and expertise relevant to our project here in Malawi and we anticipate their arrival.

T and I