By Robert Katuli

Salima, April 13, Mana: A Swedish international development organization, We Effect, has committed itself to supporting smallholder farmers in the country produce high crop yields even in the face of climate change.

We Effect Secretary General, Anna Tibblin, said this on Friday when she, together with other officials from the organization’s headquarters in Sweden, toured some of the interventions the organization is undertaking in Salima district.

Tibblin said climate change is no more a strange thing, hence people, especially farmers, must adapt to it and embrace its effects to ensure food security.

“Farmers need to have the tools to face climate change. We support smallholder farming communities to develop early warning systems and different technologies to face the effects of climate change,” she said.

She added that her organization wants to empower local farmers with knowledge and skills until the farmers can come together and work for themselves without continuously relying on the organization’s support.

We Effect Malawi Country Manager, Esther Chirwa, concurred with Tibblin, saying the organization wants to help local farmers find ways so that their crops are not adversely affected by climate change.

“We are encouraging diversification of crops, especially those that can benefit the farmer. We are also equipping farmers with expertise and modern farming ways so they can still get good yields in the face of climate change,” said Chirwa.

She further disclosed that We Effect mostly works with farmers in groups with the aim of uplifting smallholder farmers in cooperatives.

In her remarks, Driana Lwanda, Chief Executive Officer for African Institute of Corporate Citizenship (AICC), an organization which has partnered with We Effect in implementing cotton and rice farming projects in the country, emphasized that most solutions they are implementing are related to climate resilience.

“We have been training the farmers on how to grow cotton using sustainable and resilient ways, as well as how they can grow rice in the face of climate change using the systems of rice diversification.

“The farmers are aware of climate change issues and are able to use the different interventions that we have introduced to them. They are able to adopt the different resilient processes,” said Lwanda.

One of the farmers to has ably adopted such interventions as described by Lwanda is Moses Tsamba, a cotton grower in Salima.

Tsamba hailed the various interventions the two organizations have put in place, saying the interventions have brought positive impact as far as cotton farming is concerned.

“We are getting a lot of support from AICC and We Effect. We are getting the best farming practices,” he said.

We Effect aims to empower local communities in various districts in the country through cooperative development through local partner organizations.

Apart from AICC, other local partners that work with We Effect include Farmer's Union of Malawi (FUM), Malawi Union of Savings and Credit Cooperatives (MUSCCO) and Central Region Milk Producers Association (CREMPA), among others.