Malawi Farmers Turn Overripe Bananas Into Profitable Wine Amid Climate Challenges

Emily Nkhana, a small-scale farmer in northern Malawi’s Karonga district, once discarded overripe bananas as waste due to extreme heat ripening them too quickly. Now, she and other farmers have found a solution: turning the surplus into banana wine.

Previously, rising water levels from Lake Malawi washed away banana plantations, forcing farmers to relocate to higher, hotter grounds where temperatures can reach 42°C. The heat caused bananas to ripen and spoil rapidly, leaving farmers with significant losses.

Faced with these climate challenges, Nkhana and a group of women formed the Twitule Cooperative Group, which now produces banana wine as a means of economic survival. “We discovered how to make banana wine,” Nkhana said, as she worked at the cooperative’s processing plant. 

The wine-making process is simple: overripe bananas are peeled, cut, and mixed with sugar, yeast, raisins, water, and lemons. The mixture is left to ferment for several weeks, transforming into a sweet, fruity wine with 13% alcohol content.

Banana wine has gained popularity in Malawi, selling for $3 a bottle at local markets, including in the capital, Lilongwe, and Blantyre. "It’s always sold out," said Tennyson Gondwe, CEO of Community Savings and Investment Promotion (Comsip), which trained the women in wine production.

For Nkhana and the cooperative, wine production has transformed their lives. "Some of us built houses, bought livestock, and can now afford decent meals," she said. Producing 20-50 litres of wine a month, the group aims to expand and is seeking approval from the Malawi Bureau of Standards for export.

As interest in banana wine grows, Nkhana and her colleagues are optimistic about its future. “People are curious,” she said, “and when they try it, they’re surprised by how good it is.”