By Agatha Kadzinje and Milcah Mathias

Blantyre, November 28, Mana: Small scale farmers in Blantyre rural have expressed high expectations in crop harvests in the 2024/2025 farming season as they are currently purchasing fertilisers and maize seeds in various selling points through Affordable Input Programme (AIP).

In an interview with Malawi News Agency (Mana) on Wednesday, one of the beneficiaries from Chapasuka Village, Traditional Authority Chigalu in Blantyre, Stenala Juma, said that failure to apply fertilizer had been a challenge among most small scale farmers in his area.

“Most of us are appearing on the beneficiaries list for the first time. We therefore expect that next year we will have enough harvest,” he said.

Juma, who owns 1 hectare of land, expects to have a bumper harvest of maize next year, as in the past year he only harvested one bag of maize. He therefore expressed joy for being among the AIP beneficiaries at Traditional Authority Chigalu.

Some of the criteria for selecting AIP beneficiaries include; being a productive small farmer, owning land from 0.4 to 2.5 hectares, and belonging to a gazetted village, recognized by local authority on top of being a citizen of Malawi.

Speaking in a separate interview, Blantyre District, Chief Agriculture Officer, Lusungu Banda Mtukale said at least 41,860 farmers are expected to benefit from AIP.

She added that under AIP, small scale farmers in Blantyre will buy fertilisers and seeds at subsidised prices, anticipating that the AIP will improve maize production in the district which was also hit by drought.

“Some parts of Blantyre such as Kunthembwe and Chigalu received insufficient rains than other areas in the district.

“We are therefore encouraging farmers to adopt good farming practices according to weather patterns. We are hoping that good rainfall in 2024/25 farming season will bring good results,” Mtukale added.

She advised Agricultural Extension Development workers to provide extension services to farmers so that they should continue with good agricultural practices to ensure good harvest citing early land preparation, good choice of seeds, correct spacing, manure application on top of fertiliser application as some of the best practices.

Mtukale then appealed to AIP beneficiaries never to sell farm inputs for quick money, saying this would be counterproductive and set back in the quest for improved food production