Lesson 1: Importance of Soybean

Soybean is one of the most important crops in Malawi. It is a versatile grain legume because it has a variety of uses. Soybean is rich in protein, vegetable oil and essential minerals. The crop has the ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen and therefore improves soil fertility. Soybean is increasingly becoming popular and serving as an alternative food and cash crop. The area under soybean production as well as productivity is increasing in Malawi due to gov­ernment policies on value addition, domestic use and crop diversification. Consequently, there is a significant expansion of the soybean industry within Malawi and with substantial demand for export market. Despite its importance and potential, the crop faces a number of major challenges, which include short shelf life, poor crop production practices, diseases particularly soybean rust and effects of climate change. However, the Department of Agri­cultural Research Services (DARS) through the Soybean Improvement Programme in col­laboration with its partners such as International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has responded and continue to search for sustainable solutions to these challenges by develop­ing suitable soybean varieties adaptable in most agro-ecologies in Malawi and has devel­oped appropriate agronomic messages to address and manage some of the challenges.

This manual contains valuable information on suitable agro-ecologies for soybean produc­tion, recommended varieties, seed sources, soybean agronomical practices (land prepara­tion, planting aspects, weeding, crop protection), seed production and post-harvest handling in Malawi. The appendix contains extra information on nutritional content of soybean listed in the catalogue of released varieties in Malawi including their botanical classifications. This man­ual is to be used as reference material and as an essential source of information for farmers, field officers, and researchers on soybean production. Ultimately, use of information from this guide will assist smallholder farmers to boost soybean production and productivity in Malawi.

DARS in collaboration with IITA and with financial support from INVC project developed this guide and its publication is timely because it will help a wide spectrum of stakeholders.

Acknowledgments

The Department of Agricultural Research Services and the authors greatly acknowledge support from Feed the Future: Malawi INVC Project, IITA and the Government of Malawi through the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MoAFS) that supported the publication of this work. Authors particularly thank the Legumes Commodity Team and DARS staff for support and encouragement during the preparation of this document.

1.0 Background Information

Soybean, Glycine max (L.) Merr., is a leguminous vegetable of the pea family that grows in tropical, subtropical, and temperate climates. Soybean was domesticated in the 11th cen­tury BC around the northeast region of China. Soybean is not a new crop in Malawi. Reports by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security indicate that this crop has been grown in Malawi since 1909. It was being grown as a minor in association with tung. However, when vari­etal and agronomic research work was conducted on the crop, some useful information was generated that made soybean to be a more important crop. The crop is well adapted for production in all agro-ecological zones in Malawi. However, soybean production is con­centrated in Lilongwe, Kasungu, and Mzuzu Agricultural Developement Divisions (ADDs).

1.1 Importance of Soybean

1.1.1 Soybean combats severe nutritional deficiency and enhances household food security  

Soybean consists of more than 36% protein, 30% carbohydrates, and excellent amounts of dietary fiber, vitamins, and minerals. It also consists of 20% oil, which makes it the most important crop for producing edible oil. In addition to nutritious weaning foods, whole soy­beans can form important ingredients in recipes for preparing adult meals. This compli­ments carbohydrate dominated diets such as maize. Refer to appendix on page 21.

1.1.2 Soybean helps to halt the precipitous decline in soil fertility

In Malawi, the declining agricultural productivity especially of crops like maize is largely due to soil fertility depletion, among other reasons. The benefits of including grain legumes such as soybeans, in rotation with maize, have been verified. Promiscuous soybean va­rieties remain green for an extended period of time enabling the crop to fix more nitro­gen in the soil. Self-nodulating soybean varieties reportedly add approximately 20 kg nitro­gen per hectare per season. This is an added benefit to the farmer considering that inorganic fertilizers are very expensive. In Malawi, Tikolore, released in 2011 is an example of a promiscuous variety and replaced Magoye because it was low yielding and small seeded.

1.2.3 Soybean helps to mitigate worsening rural poverty

Apart from gains in improving soil fertility, soybean also provides a supplementary source of income to smallholder farmers especially rural women. Domestic demand for soybean by the processing agro-industries (growing poultry and fish industries), is high. Thus soybean has a ready domestic and export market that is not fully exploited.