|
Farming has been part of the Malawian community from time immemorial. Good harvests which brought surplus slightly improved people’s lives.
Although the community has been working in the fields for generations, they have remained poor and hopeless because farming has provided little output to supplement their needs.
Now the situation is expected to change, particularly in Mzimba District where the Ministry of Agriculture is implementing the Farm Income Diversification Programme (FIDP)
FIDP aims at improving sustainable food security and income levels for rural households with sustainable use of soil and water resources.
The programme, which is expected to benefit 330 households, has been launched in Khosolo, Eswazini and Bwengu extension planning areas.
Last month, chiefs from Mzimba went on a tour of FIDP’s activities, one of which includes sustainable management of soil conservation and fertility.
FIDP Mzimba District coordinator Watson Banda, says communities where the activity will be implemented have already been identified.
“Some nine cites, each with 30 hectares on conservation farming were identified and some communities have already started working on them. The process was delayed because harvesting time is late in the district,” he said.
Banda said in order to sustain natural soil richness, compost manure manufacturing has been intensified in all the areas saying the programme will also reduce the cost of farming unlike when using fertilisers.
FIDP is also trying to create conducive environment for agriculture business and so far some activities have already been identified.
They include coffee production at Khosolo, mushroom production at Bwengu, beekeeping, piggery, Boer goats breeding, green maize production and fish farming in all the three EPAs.
The district coordinator said they were in the process of re-orienting farmers so that they start operating a farming business account that would help them run their businesses effectively.
He said some groups would be provided with farm inputs and they needed to attend some training to be business-minded.
“All groups that are to receive initial inputs will have to undergo some training on business aspects. This will help them run their farming with the mindset of operating a business,” he said.
FIDP’s other objective is to establish small-scale irrigation in the district in order to sustain farming even during the dry season.
Training has already been conducted in the district and 30 hectares would be used but more land would be sourced as the project embraces more farmers.
In spite of the great expectations from the public in terms of success of FIDP, the programme is facing a number of hurdles.
Banda said there is lack of smooth flow of information as Mzimba is incommunicado in terms of emails, ground phones and fax.
“Not only that, the district is big and some places are hilly. We need strong vehicles to enable us visit cites and also be able to move quickly when there is urgent need of attention,” he said.
Banda also complained that the syndrome of allowances is making some farmers unwilling to attend meetings and training unless they are given money as is the practice with some NGOs.
“There is a big problem with some of the NGOs that we are working with, especially in Khosolo whereby farmers are given money in order to attend meetings and training. This has really created hiccups on how we should proceed and implement our activities. To make matters worse, some frontline staff also want allowances in spite of numerous efforts to make them understand,” he said.
But Inkosi Mtwalo praised the programme noting that it would help improve the living standards of the people in rural areas.
“Malawians have been farming for generations but have not achieved much because of lack of strategised farming. I hope FIDP would improve the situation,” he said.
Inkosi Mtwalo called for collective approach to the programme saying the implementers could not achieve what they have planned if the beneficiaries just stood and watched.
He warned the people against laziness saying even if the programme can be of benefit to the people; it would still be a failure if the people do not work hard in their fields.
FIDP, which is a six-year programme, is being funded by the European Union.
Apart from Mzimba, the programme is also being carried out in Rumphi, Karonga, Nkhotakota, Salima, Balaka, Dowa and Lilongwe.
|
