By Richard Kagunda

Kasungu, December 3, Mana: Smallholder farmers in Kasungu District have applauded the National Smallholder Farmers' Association of Malawi (Nasfam) for equipping them with agricultural expertise that has played a significant role in improving their livelihoods.

In separate interviews, farmers from various Group Action Committees said their economic statuses have changed because of improved agricultural production realized by implementing modern farming approaches learnt through training conducted by the association.

Charles Tembo from Wimbe Group Action Committee said cultivation of diversified crops, irrigation and climate agriculture approaches have helped farmers in the area to increase production and consider farming as a business.

“We have benefited a lot from Nasfam, especially on how to approach farming. For long, we have been subsistence farmers, cultivating crops in a business-as-usual approach.

“This time, no; we are serious, taking farming as a business and hence getting into both crops and animal production while applying modern farming techniques,” he said.

Tembo, who became a member of Nasfam in 2006, appealed to fellow farmers not to rely on a single crop but to venture into other crops and animals to increase income and improve their economic status.

Another farmer Brian Jere of Lusoto Group Action Committee who does seed multiplication, cultivation of tobacco and soya beans said in the face of climate change, farmers must adopt irrigation to supplement rain-fed agriculture and ensure that they have multiple harvests in a year.

On his part, Nasfam Association Business Manager for Kasungu, Edwin Chiona, was impressed with the progress that most farmers have made under the guidance of Nasfam.

Chiona noted that climate change has been a major challenge that has hindered some farmers from succeeding saying Nasfam has put in place measures to mitigate the effects by promoting tree planting and rainwater harvesting.

Apart from providing the training, Nasfam also supported the farmers with goats distributed on pass-on arrangement.