Improved soybean varieties increase farmer incomes by 53% – study shows
Without a doubt, maize is the giant of all food crops in Malawi. However, most smallholder farmers often intercrop maize with soybean, thus making it an equally important crop. Soybean enhances soil fertility, thus improving crop yields which results in increased incomes. Soybean improves soil fertility by using its natural ability to fix nitrogen in the soil.
Farmers in Malawi generally harvest about 9.8 t/ha of soybean which is far below the African average of 12.4 t/ha and global average 27.6 t /ha (2017 FAO). This low production is mainly due to low adoption of improved varieties, poor quality seed and sticking to traditional production technologies.
