By Patricia Kapulula

Lilongwe, December 16, Mana: Solidaridad, an international civil society organization that works on developing solutions to make communities more resilient, has emphasized on the need for cotton farmers to use certified seeds in order for them to harvest more thereby improving their livelihoods through sales.

Recently, a Solidaridad supervisory board visited Malawi to learn some of the works the country is doing.

Solidaridad Global Executive Director, Andre de Freitas, hailed Malawi for its efforts in in innovation despite challenges farmers face.

He said the board discussed a global strategy for the next five years that would see farmers benefit in production and value chain.

“We talked to different actors in value chain to change supply chain to the benefit of farmers,” he said.

As one way of addressing availability of certified seed for farmers, de Freitas said they are assisting farmers by multiplying seed so that they have access and improve on production.

“What we have done is to have 160 tonnes of seed that is enough to support 50,000 farmers. With good seed they will be able to get better production and good income,” he said.

Solidaridad Malawi Projects Officer, Given Phiri, expressed concern that in Malawi cotton history is going down.

He said in recent years cotton production in Malawi has declined from 100, 000 to 10, 000 metric tonnes.

“This shows that we are not progressing in as far as cotton production is concerned. For us to realize profits in cotton, we are into collaborations with different stakeholders who can assist us to improve production,” he said.

Phiri cited the stakeholders as the Cotton Council of Malawi, Makoka Research Station.

Solidaridad Malawi has entered  into an agreement with the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) to help in research for the country to have good variety that can make farmers harvest more.

“We want to reach out to about 20,000 farmers in cotton farming and for tea we want to reach out to not less that 20,000 farmers. We have reached out to soy bean farmers who are not less that 15,000. We want to see farmers harvesting more by assisting them have certified seed as most of them use recycled seed which lead them to harvesting less,” Phiri said.

Solidaridad operates across continents to support small-scale farmers, workers and miners while addressing global supply chain challenges. In Africa, it implements on the ground projects to foster sustainability.