The growing population in the country is automatically pressing for an up thrust in the production of various food products especially fruits which are already in short supply but also have multiple benefits nutritionally and environmental integrity. Of the fruits produced in the country, mangoes are the widest produced and consumed. Nonetheless, most farmers have local mango trees which are old, produce little with overwhelming seasonality and have heavy infestation of pests and diseases because they are left to grow under self-care just like natural forest trees.

When increasing productivity of mangoes was thought of by the Ministry of Agriculture, it became paramount that a swift migration to have more farmers planting improved mango varieties either through panting new trees of rejuvenating and top-working improved varieties on the old existing trees, training extension staff in mango production who will work with the farmers were vital. Extension workers needed to acquire skills in the entire process of mango production. To this effect, the Ministry of Agriculture engaged CIH to facilitate a week long training in mango production in Salima district at Salima ADD offices. The training drew 25 participants who included AEDOs, AEDCs, District Horticulture Officers, District Crop Officers and Crop officers from Karonga, and Salima ADDs.

CIH developed a training manual, a training calendar and facilitated a training which covered site selection for mango production, conducting field surveys, soil analysis and land preparation procedure for a mango field; carrying out field layout, digging planting holes, hole curing, hole filling, planting, staking, irrigation and water management, training and pruning of mango trees, mulching, top working, fruit thinning, fertilizer program for mangoes, pest an disease management, harvesting, transportation, packaging and marketing of mangoes.

Using our ATVET session, the participants went through a comprehensive and tight hands-on training week and practiced many of the concepts presented to them during the training such as top-working, training and pruning, staking, mulching and fertilizer application. Graduating the participants, Dickson Banda the company’s Managing Director challenged participants to go and utilize the knowledge and skill acquired from the training in the implementation of the activities of the project in their different sites. KULIMA is a GIZ funded project whose other goal amongst others is to increase production of mangoes in the country.

Closing the training, the Deputy Director of Agriculture in the Ministry, Eviness Nyalugwe thanked CIH for the great facilitation and also thanked all the participants for their dedication throughout the training that saw the training a bug success. She expressed optimism that all participants during the training will be able to utilize the knowledge and skills to help farmer in their project site successfully set up mango fields and produce quality mangoes in the next few years.