1.0: Introduction
IN THIS LESSON: Prevention of Soybean rust
Soybean production trends in Malawi
Agronomic studies on soybean have shown that the crop is well adapted for production in all agro-ecological zones in Malawi. However, soybean yields are still low as farmers obtain 800 kg/ha on average against the potential yield of 2000-2500 kg/ha. Development and promotion of new high yielding soybean varieties currently grown by farmers in Malawi over the last 6 years, has significantly enhanced productivity from 600kg/ha to 800kg/ha (See Figure 1).
The national production over 10 years has been growing at about at 4.6 % per year. The national demand was at 111,000 metric tons which caused the farmers to increase their production areas.