Patrick Achitabwino articles

Agriculture is the main backbone of the Malawi economy. It is improvements in agriculture that make the yard stick for measuring the prevalence of poverty among the people of Malawi. Strides taken in agricultural revolution in the country over the past four years have put the country on the path of attaining the Millennium Development Goals pertaining to the reduction of poverty. According to the government of Malawi 2008 MDG report, poverty levels declined sharply from 52.4 in 2005 to 40 percent in 2007 on account of improved food security situation largely due to the input subsidy programme and favorable weather conditions that have contributed to the bumper crop harvest in the last four years. It is said that at this rate of improvement, poverty levels would be expected to decline to 27 percent by 2015 thus reaching the MDG target on poverty reduction.
The hoe has the power to pay back the master. It is only that the hoe can only pay back depending on the way the master uses it. China’s economic transformation which is called an economic miracle was mainly as a result of effective use of the hoe. The rapid growth made in several sectors in china was led by agricultural reforms. We are on a good footing in agricultural dimension. The thing that matters at present is to move beyond the current level of farming. We need to intensify intensive farming and diversify the range of products we farm. It is intensive farming that makes China one of the world’s largest producers and consumers of agricultural products. Intensive farming has seen China becoming the world’s largest producer of rice and a principal source of wheat, corn (maize), tobacco, soya beans, peanuts, cotton, potatoes, sorghum, tea, millet, barley, oilseed, pork and fish. Actually, China’s cropland area is only 75 percent of the United States total but produces about 30 percent more crops and livestock than the United States. In accordance with the United Nations World Food Program, in 2003 China fed 20 percent of the world’s population with only 7 percent of the world’s arable land.
It is worth noting that all the progress China has been making in agriculture has not largely been due to improvements in agricultural technology. China has still a relatively lack of agricultural machinery, particularly advanced machinery. For the most part, the Chinese peasant or farmer depends on simple, non-mechanized farming implements just as Malawi farmers do. Our advancement in agricultural revolution in the fight against poverty should model on the China success story. We cannot achieve a lot if we keep on heavily depending on 1 hectare fields. What we need are large farms that can produce hundreds of metric tonnes of products for consumption and exports.
It is high time that our agriculture goes beyond maize and tobacco. How about investing in communal forests? As the demand for energy intensifies and our hills are going bare, the forestry sector becomes of one of the lucrative business initiatives to undertake. There will always be increasing demand for timber as the construction industry keeps on booming. Forests can be an agricultural dimension worthy exploring. Until when shall we keep on relying on Chikangawa forest for timber? Actually, the timber industry is an economic lifeline for some economies. For instance, it is expected that the timber industry would be accounting for 25 percent of the GDP of Liberia. The timber and wood market is worth exploring in the agricultural sector.
Another agricultural sector that the country needs to diversify into is the flowers industry. The flower industry is the economic miracle of East Africa’s giant economy, Kenya. Kenya is the number one supply of ornamental flowers to the European Union, with a market share of more than 35 percent. In 2008, the Kenya flower industry exported 91,000 tonnes of flowers which earned the country US$ 504.4 million, that is 40 billion Kenyan shillings. Malawi has vast quantities of land and favorable climate that can see an economic miracle arising out of the flower industry. It is an industry that should not be underrated. In Kenya, the flowers industry employs more than 100,000 people, that’s making a positive impact in mitigating rising unemployment rates and the adverse impact of poverty.
Amazing so it is that despite having vast quantities of water in Lake Malawi, the water flows all the way to Zambezi through Shire River unutilized in agricultural sector. Lake Malawi is the best source for agricultural revolution. Lake Malawi has the capacity to sustain irrigation all year long thus making it possible for our agricultural season to be three dimensional. Planting of crops could no longer be once a year. Planting could be all year rounder. A resource being underutilized. Probably the Greenbelt initiative will offer a learning opportunity for us to realize the wealth that we had had but unable to utilize. Israel irrigates almost its entire cotton crop of 28, 570 hectares. The water encyclopedia reports that 40 percent of all crops grown in the world today are grown using irrigation. This is the best time to examine what percentage of our agricultural productivity is as a result of irrigation.
To really maximize our earnings from our agricultural productivity and contribute effectively in the fight against poverty, we really have to add value to our agricultural products. As long as we remain perennial exporters of raw materials, we will ever end up at the receiving end of peanuts. Our sweat would never be adequately compensated. Instead of exporting pepper to Arabic countries, why can’t we be processing the pepper, package it nicely and sell it at high value. Isn’t it amazing that we import tomato sauce when farmers in Ntcheu and Dedza produce vast quantities of tomato that can be added value to and exported?
Our agriculture has many missed opportunities. Probably it is high time that the financial services sector consider funding agricultural initiatives that have a seemingly profitable outlook. By and large, our inability to utilize our land could end up pushing us on the cross of jealousy when large scale Chinese investors in agriculture take up vast quantities of land for agricultural produce. But they will be planting the very crops that we the indigenous usually plant. It only takes the transformation of ideas into practice.
While as a nation we embark on diversifying our crops range, the need for updated information on agricultural markets throughout the world need to be made available. Probably we are unable to diversify into other crops as a result of inavailability of information pertaining to viable markets for the products we could diversity in. Do our agricultural offices in all the districts in the country have appropriate information on markets for agricultural commodities? Do we have agricultural information centres? We lag behind because we do not have information that can make us progress. We lag bed=hind because we underrate the value of agricultural information. As market trends in the world are changing so too should the Malawi farmer be updated on the changes in order to make appropriate information that can further revolutinise our agriculture.

How do you strike a deal with publishers to have your manuscript published? What are your inalienable rights as an author of a published work? What procedures can you follow to reap from your literary sweat? Scratch not your head laboring to get answers to these mind-boggling questions; you have a timely intervention in Sambalikagwa Mvona’s ‘A guide to writers’ and artists’ contracts.’
The 80-page book which can as well be described as the writers’ bible tackles a wide range of issues that writers have to come to terms with. It can be argued that it is a red card to the exploitation of writers. As the Malawi Writers Union (MAWU) president writes in the foreword of the book: ‘it is common knowledge that publishers, being businessmen are there to make money and increase their enterprises. If writers do not know and exercise their new rights and, therefore, do not promote their own interests they only have themselves to blame.’
Flipping through the book gives you an edge to have an insight into the century old history of writing in Malawi, general guidelines for publishing contracts, rights of the author, a brief history of royalties, Copyright Society of Malawi (COSOMA), and the role that the Malawi National Library Service plays in promoting the writing and reading culture in the country.
The issue that dominates most is publishing contracts. The book carries with it examples of contracts, among them: a normal Malawian contract, a contract in Finland, standard contract for non-fiction literature between the Norwegian Publishers’ Association and the Norwegian Association of Non-Fiction Writers and Translators, so too a memorandum of agreement for a commissioned contract in Malawi.
The author of the guide is well aware that writing has gone electronic as well as more authors are resorting to publishing online. This writers and artists guide also gives an example of a contract governing an electronic book.
By the time you will have finished reading this guide you will have been conversant with general publishing contract guidelines on illustrations and quotations; infringement of existing copyright, libel, and censorship laws; obligation to publish, advance payment and royalties; choice of law among many others.
One admirable element in the book is that it does not leave a reader in the vacuum regarding which institutions to contact. The last four pages of the book have contact addresses of vital stakeholders in the arts, communication and book industry. Some of the noticeable addresses include those of Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Culture; Department of Arts and Craft; Malawi Writers Union; National Archives; Musicians Association of Malawi; National Theatre Association of Malawi among many others.
Pertaining to the coverage of the Malawi National library Service which the author calls a writer’s nest, Mvona looks at one of the crucial contributions of libraries worldwide as to uplift a country’s writing and reading culture. He then questions if the Malawi National library service has achieved that goal since independence from colonial masters. It is well expounded in the book that through its Children books in the Werengani series the Malawi National library service has made remarkable strides in promoting a writing and reading culture.
A guide to writers’ and artists’ contracts is a silent constitution for writers and deserves to be on bookshelves of serious writers. Of course one can argue that in line with the title of the book, the book has only addressed interest of writers thus negating other artists like musicians, fine artists, photographers, sculptors and many others. Of course taking into account that the author is in the first instance a published writer therefore much of his knowledge would be in his field. However, that being said, the guide is as well meant for writers and artists combined.
The author, Sambalikagwa Mvona is a renowned creative writer with a string of books to his name , some of them: The blind search, The trap, the sun at Njuli, Modern stories from Malawi and The special document. He is the current president for the Malawi Writers Union.

There are several customs and traditions that have been perpetrating male chauvinism, spreading HIV/AIDS and even degrading the status of women in the society. One exciting piece of fiction, Sins of our fathers by Chikumbutso Ndaferankhande takes an intrinsic look into such traditions and their impact on the girl child.
Sins of our fathers is a short story centering at the life of a fourteen-year old Tania who was married off to Gwamu – an old man and a maize trader – to offset maize loan that her parents secured from Gwamu seven years past. Tania had to endure the most excruciating inhuman conditions in the house of Gwamu until the moment she hit back Gwamu with Nthiko and he fainted. Tania fled away until she fainted on the banks of a river and was being prosecuted for causing gravious bodily harm.
Remarkable traits of creative writing skills are showcased in the story through the way in which the author explores the social customs and beliefs. The traditional belief that investing in the education of a girl child was a waste of resources is evident through the voice of Tania’s father: “Paying for a girl’s secondary education is a waste, something I can’t be foolish to do. For whose benefit? If anything it will be her husband who will enjoy the effort. Provided she knows how to read and write, that’s enough.”
Going through the story one learns that some traditions are perpetrated by poverty. The root cause of the trading off of Tania was that the family had had bad harvest, ADMARC had had no grain reserves, the government was reported to have sold the previous harvest to neighboring countries and people were starving to death. The only people to look to were the likes of Gwamu who were importing maize for sale. When Tania’s parent got the maize on credit they were optimistic that they would later sell cattle to offset the debt. Unfortunately, foot and mouth disease wiped away the cattle. The family had one choice, as Tania’s mother explains to her: “We marry you off to offset the debt. We cannot repay in any other way than this.”
Ndaferankhande goes on to artistically portray several traditional beliefs that wreck havoc in the lives of the girl-child. This is portrayed in Tania’s reflections: while in standard four, her classmate, Mwache who was only 12 was given off to a man three times her age as dowry. Then there was Lucia who had been offered to a widower as a consolation following her sister’s death, a tradition so called kupyanikisya or chimetamasisi. Lucia eventually run away from the village and turned into prostitution to make ends meet.
An exciting element worthy noting in the story is that it tests the application of the law. Was Tania to be jailed for avenging her wrath on a man who had turned her into a punch bag every night? Was the law to only look at her wounding her forced husband regardless of circumstances surrounding the causative factors? Of course, in the end the magistrate ruled that Tania had to be free and taken off from Gwamu and that her parents had to ensure that she further her education.
Certainly, the flow of language and the expressions given in the story will leave you with no seeds of doubt as to why the story scooped the first prize in the 2008 First Merchant Bank/Malawi Writers Union Literary Awards. It is an excellent piece of literature that adds value to the element of research in creative writing. Sins of our fathers is published in an anthology entitled the Bachelor of Chikanda and other stories.

Creative writing in Malawi has had its ups and downs. At the moment the reading culture seem to be dying. But how can a reading culture be sustained when creative writing seem to be taking a nosedive as well? There has been an increased outcry that the quality of literary creative works being penned of late has been leaving a lot to be desired. But wait a moment, get hold of an anthology of Malawian short stories entitled: The bachelor of Chikanda and other stories, then you will appreciate that all is not lost.
This artistically written anthology brings before your table a 240-page literary dish containing 35 stories covering different aspects of social life: cultural trends, poverty, witchcraft among many others. It also recognizes the importance of managing transition in the creative world. While the anthology boasts of short stories by emerging writers on the Malawi scene like William Mpina, Ayami Mkwanda, Ndongolera Mwangopili, Kondwani Kamiyala among several others, it also showcases stories of long-time renowned writers such as Jonathan Tanthwe Mbuna, Sambalikagwa Mvona, Brian Ligomeka, Akwete Sande, Levi Zeleza Manda, Zondiwe Mbano, Jimmy Koreia-Mpatsa, Wisdon Dede Kamkondo and Benedicto Wokomaatani Malunga. This combination bridges the gap between the old and the new writers. It brings an opportunity to analyse how writing trends have been forging of late.
An exciting element embodied in almost all the stories carried in the book is how they maintain a drive in adhering to themes being addressed. Some stories are there to question the logic behind some behavior. Others pricks at the evil of some cultural practices when they are not appropriately followed.
An amazing element that attracts a reader is the variety of writing styles. The weaving of Ndaferankhande’s Sins of the fathers in the first person singular entices a reader to be part of the story, to be the main character, to think with the character, to mourn with her, and to get relief with her as well. The opening paragraph of Vincent Muwamba’s The Ants has the rousing appeal that ignite in a reader the desire to keep on: ‘The ants of Mdeka had no mouth to tell of their suffering under the divergent oppressive feet. Feet in slippers, Feet in three storey shoes. Bare feet. Feet! Feet! Feet!
The most common element which gives the stories a lively curiosity is the ending. Most stories have the suspense ending which gives a reader all the liberty to conclude the stories himself/herself.
As this anthology is also better suited for classrooms, it excites a lot to note that award winning stories for the 2008 First Merchant Bank/Malawi Writers Union have been incorporated in this anthology: Chikumbutso Ndaferankhande’s Sins of the fathers; Vincent Chiwamba’s The Ants; and Shadreck Chikoti’s The Baobab. The incorporation of these stories in the anthology provides budding writers a timely opportunity to learn tricks of authoring award winning stories.
This anthology is the best instrument for teaching creative writers. At the end of each short story are four of five questions pertaining to the story. Such simple exercise challenges a reader to measure one’s understanding on each story read.
The Bachelor of Chikanda and other stories could make a vital creative writing resource if it can find its way into school and public libraries.

Tourism is one of the fastest growing sectors in the world. More so now with the World Cup coming to Africa in 2021, many Sub Sahara African countries are repositioning their tourism sectors to maximize economic benefits from an avalanche of foreign visitors. It appears that little do we appreciate that flowers forma a recognizable and profitable part of the tourism industry. Flowers have the beauty that enhances the image of a country. Not only that they are a multi million dollar business that if properly enhanced have the capacity to induce a positive increment on the GDP realized in the tourism industry.

Just in between the Mibawa bus terminal and the highly polluted Mudi river, the flower industry is booming. Vendors have established flower nurseries and their clientele are people interested in having beautiful flower beds around their homes. At the time that the business dimension of the country is endeavoring to shift from an importing and consuming to a producing and exporting, it is imperative that any business initiative that has the potential to contribute towards the cause is supported to the fullest. The flower industry has the potential to make a remarkable impact on the inflation and the gross domestic product (GDP) of the country.

Despite the booming of the flower market on the international market in the recent years, the Malawi business sector is yet to break into such a market. The fall of the Lingadzi farms in early 2000 is an epitome of how the flower sector has failed to flourish. It was the closure of the farms that marked the erasing of Malawi flowers at the international market. At the time of its closure, as reported by the African Magazine of December 2000, Lingadzi was the country’s largest flower grower and exporter –exporting an average of 20 million stems of roses a year – with over 700 workers. The closure of the farm saw Malawi losing US$ 28 million in revenues.

Flowers have proved to be among the top forex earning products in some countries in Africa. In the year 2000, exports of flowers and foliage in Kenya contributed 5.8 percent of the total export earnings. According to the Kenya Flower Council, Kenya accounts for 60 percent of African cut-flower exports, in terms of value and is the world’s fourth largest exporter of cut-flower. At one point, the flower industry was poised to overtake tea and tourism in forex earnings. Susan Njanji in the article ‘Economy, climate, batter Kenya’s flower’ say that horticulture contributes about 23 percent of the GDP of Kenya and employs an estimated three million people. In the first three months of this year, the flower industry earned for Kenya US$ 13.68 million

Certainly, in Africa Kenya offers the best learning ground in the development of a vibrant and commercially viable flowers industry. Floyd Mann in the article: ‘Kenya – Globalizing with flowers’ writes that since the country’s independence in 1963, and especially in recent years, horticulture has emerged as one of Kenya’s great economic success stories. Flowers picked in the morning reach the markets in Amsterdam by evening. Horticulture is Kenya’s fastest growing sector and is ranked third after tourism and tea.

For a country that carries in its history the once success story of Lingadzi farms, it is essential to develop and implement deliberate policies that can spearhead the flower industry beyond the present small sector. Banks and other financial lending institutions so too the insurance sector can play progressive roles in supporting and sustaining the growth of the flowers industry. The revitalization of the flowers industry can broaden Malawi’s export base beyond the traditional tobacco, tea, coffee, cotton, among a few others.

Ethiopia has taken remarkable strides in enhancing its flower industry to complement the tourism sector. Ethiopia has been encouraging major flower farms in Kenya to establish flower farms in Ethiopia. Have major companies have actually made a switch into Ethiopia lured by ten-year tax break holidays, better security and little in the way of graft. Sher Agencies, a Dutch company whose 400-hectrate farm in Kenya produces 600 million roses a year, more than any other farm in the world, has opened a farm in Ethiopia.

A closer look at the five thematic areas articulated in the Malawi Growth Development Strategy (MGDS) is sustainable economic growth. The development of a vibrant flower industry is therefore an appropriate means to the realization of the said theme. The flower industry has the potential to enhance economic growth and wealth creation. Apparently, for our economy to make a significant impact in the reduction of poverty, our economy needs to have a strong growth of more than 6 percent.

What is lacking in the business industry apparently is the initiative to broaden the flowers industry beyond the behind mibawa bus terminal, invest in it and develop it on large scale. This is where the private sector has to take an upper hand. Flowers can do an economic miracle to our country as they are doing to the Kenya economy. The flower sector in Kenya offers employment to over 40,000 people. We can reduce the increasing unemployment rate by embracing the flower industry in the tourism sector.

Professionals form the formidable pillars of national development. Whenever a nation reaches some milestones in some areas, it certainly means that professionals specializing in such fields added value to their intellectual prowess. In other sense they put their intellectual resources into fruitful practical use.
Recently, Malawi has been reported to have slipped down on the Doing Business Index. This certainly puts a dent on the development agenda of this country. It is not that our economic policies are too archaic to go along with the pace of economic revolution. It is not even that we are advancing protectionism philosophy. What is pulling down the investment climate is the inability of key service providers, who are great yardsticks in business indexing, to improve service delivery in their capacities.
At present, electricity generation and distribution remains a challenge. Even the only small 11 percent of the population of Malawians cannot have access to electricity twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. How can this situation entice investors in perishable products?, If Kayerekera Uranium mining, probably Malawi’s money spinning project at the moment, decides to invest million of cash in generators on the pretext that ESCOM power is unreliable, what blow is our inefficient and inadequate power generation dealing to potential investors? If anything, power unreliability makes Malawi a costly country to invest into. Where are our distinguished engineers?
We are proud as a country to have educationists, renowned professors and doctors in education. As the population has been increasing over the years, certainly they should have been forecasting on its impact on the provision of tertiary education. Why is it that the intake of our universities has remained at a static level probably for the past thirty years? What strategies have our educationists been advancing to ensure that the country provides an easy access to tertiary education to its citizens to spearhead continued national development? At present, access to education at our universities is not a birthright but a priviledge. In the advent of technological advances, why can’t our universities go virtual? Advanced countries have gone ahead to offer degree and master degree courses online. Why can’t our esteemed educationists exploit such a route? We are training a few professionals indirectly proportional to the development agenda on the country.
In the interests of justice we rely on our learned colleagues in the law profession to offer us appropriate and unbiased guidance on the application of the law. The handling of disputes, civil or criminal, and the administration of justice has the potential to give people confidence in the law or to disillusion them. Some cases seem to be discharged at supersonic speed while other cases grow moulds in files with no hope of being addressed. In such a situation, what justice hope do our learned colleagues offer us? Many a times court rulings have been overturned by superior courts. What if in the first instance there was no appeal? It certainly means that there are people languishing in jails who could not have been had they appealed.
Of late companies have been folding down having been nursing losses consecutively. We question, where were the men and women of figures, the accountants? Where were the economic forecasters, economists? What strategic advises have they been offering to institute turn-around strategies. The value of their charteredness should have had a positive bearing if their academic prowess resuscitated the sinking ships.
Are our banks accessible to the common man? Are they the hub of economic development through provision of loans without infusing complex bureaucratic procedures that let people down? Are the interest rates being offered in line with inducing economic development at the household level? Probably our professional bankers need to streamline their strategies in the light of the economic development philosophy of the country.
Why is it that only a few Malawians have access to insurance policies? What is it that makes insurance policies not attractive to people? Our chartered insurers have the duty to go beyond the wording of the policies. They have to look at the practicalities of tailoring the policies with the economic interest of the people of this country.
Malawi is awash with professionals. Malawi can develop. The setback is that many professionals do not discharge their duties to the best of their intellectual capacities. We should run away from the temptation of writing high class proposals but unable to turn rhetoric into practical. Our professionalism can help the country if it moves away from the desks to the actual practical concepts.