Geography & History Notes | KCSE, NECTA, ZIMSEC & GCSE

HERE are 16 Problems facing Tea production in Malawi Competition with unwanted weeds for plant nutrients leading to poor quality produce. Pests e.g. aphids which destroy the crop leaves leading to losses. Diseases e.g. root fungus disease which leads to poor quality output. Inadequate capital yet expensive machinery is used in tea processing. Scarcity of labour to do the plucking during the harvesting period. Competition with other countries producing cigarettes e.g. Marlboro and Rex from USA. Limited land for tea plantations due to ever increasing population . Soil exhaustion due to monoculture leading to low and poor quality yields. Unstable prices leading to price fluctuation on the world market which demoralizes the farmers. Natural hazards e.g. hailstorms which destroy large parts of plantations leading to low output. Dangerous animals e.g. snakes, which attack the workers hence scaring them away. Inadequate storage facilities which leads to losses due to rotting and destru...

  Importance of nomadic pastoralism to the economy of MALAWI Source of human food with valuable proteins e.g. milk, meat/beef, and blood. It is a source of income to the pastoralists by selling farm products hence improving their standards of living. It is a source of employment e.g. through trade hence providing a livelihood for many people. It is a source of government revenue for setting up roads through taxing livestock transporters and dairy factories. The government earns foreign exchange used for setting up hospitals by exporting animal products e.g. hides and skins. It has helped to diversify the economy of MALAWI hence ensuring constant capital inflow and reduced dependency on crop growing. Nomadic pastoralism has provided raw materials for industries that provide jobs e.g. meat packers and the leather tanning industry. It has helped to put idle land into use hence reducing resource wastage Animals are used as beasts of burden e.g. for transport and for pulling ox-plow...