By Andrew Phiri

Balaka, June 19, Mana: Farmers from Group Village head Chipole, Traditional Authority Mbera in Balaka District have transformed to better livelihood through livestock and poultry farming after securing a K14 million grant, courtesy of Promoting Sustainable Partnership for Empowered Resilience (PROSPER) programme.

On Tuesday officials from the Ministry of Agriculture toured the group to appreciate layer chickens and goat rearing which is part of PROSPER programme.

Vice Chairperson of Kachere farmers group, Rabecca Anika told Malawi News Agency that the group managed to source K8 Million from its members and later obtained a grant of K14 Million from PROSPER programme which totaled K22 million,

She said after securing the grant, the group constructed a modern animal shelter and now plans buy 200 layer chickens of which 83 have already been supplied.

“The K8 million that we contributed came from various farming activities such as maize and vegetables cultivation and we got all expertise from PROSPER initiative,

“Apart from raising chickens and goats, this project has also empowered us to do Village Savings Loans (VSL) groups and also produce nutritious agricultural products such as porridge flour in order to keep our bodies healthy and fit,” Anika added.

She said that Kachere farmers group intends to extend the livestock rearing knowledge to household level so that every family should raise chickens and realize more profits and in turn get manure for the livestock.

Balaka Senior Agricultural Officer who is also responsible for coordinating PROSPER programme, Samson Chinkhadze, said the initiative was aimed at empowering communities that are affected by climate shocks by equipping them with ways of farming to ensure they are resilient.

He said PROSPER programme currently empowers 15 farmer groups in four TAs of Kachenga, Kalembo, Amidu and Mbera in Balaka District making a disbursement of about K168 million which enabled farmers to engage in various investments.

“This programme promotes experimental learning as such, farmers go through field schools where they identify problems in their area and devise solutions based on their knowledge", said Chinkhadze.

The Ministry of Agriculture has been implementing PROSPER, a multi stakeholder resilience programme since 2018 to reduce extreme poverty among rural households in Malawi.

PROSPER programme is being supported by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.