WHY NOT COMMERCIALISE SISAL PRODUCTION IN MALAWI?
Did you know that around 1920s there was actually a sisal estate in the Lower Shire? Ever since, there has not been any record on commercial sisal production anywhere else in the country. Sisal production is only reported at local farm level and it has continued to dwindle over the past centuries even at that level.
Sisal is a fibre of Agave species; it is a widely cultivated and naturalised fibre in many countries like South Africa, Tanzania, Mozambique, Angola, Madagascar, Venezuala and Brazil. Sisal yields a stiff fibre that is used in making products which are highly used around the globe. In the past, several species of Agave were used for fibre production, but presently it is a commercially grown species in different countries.Sisal is locally known as Khonje in many parts of the country. It is mostly used for ornamental practices especially in urban areas, it is also preferably used for fencing dimba gardens in the rural areas to keep away livestock from crops and on a small scale it is locally processed by local people into ropes used for different activities.
Sisal is a highly recognised fibre in the world, as such it is considered the most important fibre in the world according to the International year of natural fibres and it occupies the 6th place among fibre plants representing only 2% of world’s product making about a 65% of world’s fibres. Surprisingly, Sisal production in Malawi is reported at only farm level with a world share of 0.0% .One may wonder why Malawi shares no pride in this mostly valued .
Malawi, being an Agrarian society depends on commercial agriculture to support its economy. Over the past years, Malawi’s economy has been revolving around tobacco, tea, cotton, groundnuts, sugar and coffee. Our economy is too dependent on the harvest of these crops such that a bad weather and poor market prices in a year can mean significant hit earnings, this has already been witnessed in the past years making our economy even weaker than it was the previous year, for example in 2011 when tobacco underperformed due to low prices and has continued to do so with anti-smoking campaigns among the buyers. To this basket of commercial crops, other potential crops like sisal should be added to help correct, stabilize and diversify the economy.
Commercialising sisal production would bring in a lot of benefits to the country, directly or indirectly either through employment, exports of sisal products. Traditionally sisal has been the leading material for agricultural twine (binder and baler twine) because of its durability, ability to stretch, affinity for certain dyestuffs and resistance to deterioration in salt water. Apart from the rope making, sisal is used in low-cost and specialty paper, dartboards, cloth,filters,geotextiles,mattresses,carpets,handcrafts,wire,rope cores and macramé and apart from all these products made from sisal, sisal has been utilized as environmentally friendly strengthening agent, to replace asbestos and fibreglass in composite materials in various uses including automobile industry. The low grade fibre is processed by paper industry because of its high content of cellulose and hemicellulos, the list of the benefits out of producing sisal goes on and on, ad infinitu
The environmental attractiveness of sisal cannot be left alone without being highlighted. Although in some countries, Sisal is known to have initially caused environmental degradation because the sisal plantations replaced native forests in different areas, sisal is still considered less damaging than many types of farming. Sisal is a tough fibre which is known to thrive in drought conditions and in rough land with very little nutrition. In sisal production, no chemical fertilizers are used and in most cases pesticides are not used too because sisal is affected by very few diseases, although herbicides are occasionally used even this impact is eliminated because most weeding is done by hand. Furthermore, it helps stop soil erosion and it can be planted any time of the year and harvested throughout the year. Thus it is not a lie that very few commercial crops we are familiar with in our country possess these rare qualities.
Sisal is a plant of the subtropics and favours the subtropics climatic conditions just like those experienced in the country. It grows well in hot temperatures between 300C and 400C with rainfall requirements of 500mm and higher but it can also grow in areas with less or erratic rains. There are no specific soil requirements on which sisal grows, but it grows well in well drained loamy soil and can be cultivated in most soil types except clay with low tolerance to very saline and moist conditions.
Cultivation is done through Propagation, a method which most of the farmers are familiar with. Generally, bulbs produced from buds in the flower stalk or by suckers growing around the base of the plant are used and are grown in nursery fields until large enough to be transplanted to their final position. These methods though do not offer a potential genetic improvement. So clearly, one cannot expect to continue with the very same methods of sisal production if expecting tremendous yields, thus a dire need for research to be done in order to help improve yields, productivity, discover new products made from sisal, sisal quality and also reduce costs of production.
It is high time Malawi switched from being heavy consumers of products from other countries and start producing its own products using locally available raw materials and resources. Instead of only servicing the rural people as sisal is known to currently, it should as well service the urban people and prevent the country from wasting forex on importing sisal products like handbags, shoes and carpets. A time should come when we will no longer see a sisal fibre as just any other fibre but a commercial crop apt to help drive and change the economy of our country.
There is a dire need to revitalise commercial sisal production and transform it from maturity and traditional production to a more modern and vibrant industry. With proper investments, research, willingness of farmers, downright involvement and full dedication of the private sector and government to sisal production, Malawi would have a different story to tell in the years to come
Sisal is a fibre of Agave species; it is a widely cultivated and naturalised fibre in many countries like South Africa, Tanzania, Mozambique, Angola, Madagascar, Venezuala and Brazil. Sisal yields a stiff fibre that is used in making products which are highly used around the globe. In the past, several species of Agave were used for fibre production, but presently it is a commercially grown species in different countries.Sisal is locally known as Khonje in many parts of the country. It is mostly used for ornamental practices especially in urban areas, it is also preferably used for fencing dimba gardens in the rural areas to keep away livestock from crops and on a small scale it is locally processed by local people into ropes used for different activities.
Sisal is a highly recognised fibre in the world, as such it is considered the most important fibre in the world according to the International year of natural fibres and it occupies the 6th place among fibre plants representing only 2% of world’s product making about a 65% of world’s fibres. Surprisingly, Sisal production in Malawi is reported at only farm level with a world share of 0.0% .One may wonder why Malawi shares no pride in this mostly valued .
Malawi, being an Agrarian society depends on commercial agriculture to support its economy. Over the past years, Malawi’s economy has been revolving around tobacco, tea, cotton, groundnuts, sugar and coffee. Our economy is too dependent on the harvest of these crops such that a bad weather and poor market prices in a year can mean significant hit earnings, this has already been witnessed in the past years making our economy even weaker than it was the previous year, for example in 2011 when tobacco underperformed due to low prices and has continued to do so with anti-smoking campaigns among the buyers. To this basket of commercial crops, other potential crops like sisal should be added to help correct, stabilize and diversify the economy.
Commercialising sisal production would bring in a lot of benefits to the country, directly or indirectly either through employment, exports of sisal products. Traditionally sisal has been the leading material for agricultural twine (binder and baler twine) because of its durability, ability to stretch, affinity for certain dyestuffs and resistance to deterioration in salt water. Apart from the rope making, sisal is used in low-cost and specialty paper, dartboards, cloth,filters,geotextiles,mattresses,carpets,handcrafts,wire,rope cores and macramé and apart from all these products made from sisal, sisal has been utilized as environmentally friendly strengthening agent, to replace asbestos and fibreglass in composite materials in various uses including automobile industry. The low grade fibre is processed by paper industry because of its high content of cellulose and hemicellulos, the list of the benefits out of producing sisal goes on and on, ad infinitu
The environmental attractiveness of sisal cannot be left alone without being highlighted. Although in some countries, Sisal is known to have initially caused environmental degradation because the sisal plantations replaced native forests in different areas, sisal is still considered less damaging than many types of farming. Sisal is a tough fibre which is known to thrive in drought conditions and in rough land with very little nutrition. In sisal production, no chemical fertilizers are used and in most cases pesticides are not used too because sisal is affected by very few diseases, although herbicides are occasionally used even this impact is eliminated because most weeding is done by hand. Furthermore, it helps stop soil erosion and it can be planted any time of the year and harvested throughout the year. Thus it is not a lie that very few commercial crops we are familiar with in our country possess these rare qualities.
Sisal is a plant of the subtropics and favours the subtropics climatic conditions just like those experienced in the country. It grows well in hot temperatures between 300C and 400C with rainfall requirements of 500mm and higher but it can also grow in areas with less or erratic rains. There are no specific soil requirements on which sisal grows, but it grows well in well drained loamy soil and can be cultivated in most soil types except clay with low tolerance to very saline and moist conditions.
Cultivation is done through Propagation, a method which most of the farmers are familiar with. Generally, bulbs produced from buds in the flower stalk or by suckers growing around the base of the plant are used and are grown in nursery fields until large enough to be transplanted to their final position. These methods though do not offer a potential genetic improvement. So clearly, one cannot expect to continue with the very same methods of sisal production if expecting tremendous yields, thus a dire need for research to be done in order to help improve yields, productivity, discover new products made from sisal, sisal quality and also reduce costs of production.
It is high time Malawi switched from being heavy consumers of products from other countries and start producing its own products using locally available raw materials and resources. Instead of only servicing the rural people as sisal is known to currently, it should as well service the urban people and prevent the country from wasting forex on importing sisal products like handbags, shoes and carpets. A time should come when we will no longer see a sisal fibre as just any other fibre but a commercial crop apt to help drive and change the economy of our country.
There is a dire need to revitalise commercial sisal production and transform it from maturity and traditional production to a more modern and vibrant industry. With proper investments, research, willingness of farmers, downright involvement and full dedication of the private sector and government to sisal production, Malawi would have a different story to tell in the years to come
Sisal rope supplier and manufacturer is a highly recognized fibre in the world, as such it is careful the most significant fibre in the biosphere rendering to the global year of natural fibres and it inhabits the 6th place among fibre plants on behalf of only 2% of world’s product making about a 65% of world’s fibres.
ReplyDeleteTo whosoever wrote this. May God bless you. You have opened my eyes.
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