By Andrew Phiri

Balaka, September 9, Mana: Farmers in Balaka district have hailed Climate Smart Public Works Programme (CS-PWP) for speeding up the restoration of degraded land in the targeted 20 catchment areas.

The observation was made on Monday when the district council conducted media tour to some of the catchment areas such as Traditional Authorities (TA) Kachenga, Nsamala and Nkaya.

One of the farmers from Kumtumbwe catchment area in T/A Kachenga, Frank Zagwa, said the initiative apart from empowering over 28,000 households financially, has enabled farmers to adopt modern farming practices which he described as a game changer in farming.

"Before this programme, I was failing to harvest more yields because my land is located in the steep area, all the rain water could just pass down to the stream leaving no proper infiltration," said Zagwa.

Chairperson for Dzalimwe Catchment Management Committee (CMC) in TA Nkaya, Alinafe Dingaliro, also shared similar sentiments saying through collective effort, farmers are able to conserve the forests and restore fertility in their fields.

"Apart from farmers constructing Swales, Check dams, stone bands in their fields and restoring the forests, they also get MK38, 000 per cycle of this programme as part of motivating them to embrace the programme’s values," she said.

In his remarks, Director of Planning and Development (DPD) for Balaka District Council, Chris Nawata said, the initiative is aimed at empowering communities in the district to embrace climate resilience and modern farming practices considering the dry spells that occur in the district.

"Currently we have just finished the second cycle of this programme and we have witnessed high level of ownership among the communities," he said.

In Balaka, CS-PWP was implemented in 2021 by the government of Malawi with funding from World Bank.