By Paul Madise

Kasungu, June 7, Mana: Japanese Ambassador to Malawi, Youichi Oya has said response to impacts of the Russia-Ukraine war on agriculture in Malawi Project would help to ensure food security in the country.

He made the remarks on Friday in Kasungu after handing over Solar pumps, seeds and fertilizer to farmer’s groups in the district.

Oya said through the project, the country could mitigate the food insecurity which has come about due to effects of El Nino weather conditions.

"This project was responding to the effects of the Russia-Ukraine war but it will also help to reduce the food insecurity that is there due to the El Nino weather," he added.

The Ambassador pointed out that the country should adopt winter cropping to supplement its food needs in the face of changing climatic patterns.

Oya said the Japanese government was committed to supporting various interventions towards agriculture and help the country achieve food security.

Controller of Agriculture and Technical Services in the Ministry of Agriculture, Alfred Mwenefumbo commended the Japanese government for the support to Malawi government's agriculture sector.

He said the Ministry of Agriculture was promoting adoption of new farming technologies among the farmers so that there is increased production even in the face of climate change-induced shocks.

The Japanese funded project is being implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Kasungu and Mzimba South.

FAO Representative for Malawi, Zhijun Chen expressed gratitude to the Japanese Government for supporting the project and entrusting FAO to work with the government of Malawi and other stakeholders to contribute towards food security and climate change resilience in the two districts.

"The Japanese Government remains a strong and committed partner to FAO and their support symbolizes the confidence they have in the partnership between FAO and government of Malawi," he said.

By Tione Andsen

Lilongwe, June 7, Mana: Kenya’s Harambee Stars Friday gave away their lead in the 72nd minute when Burundi capitalized in their defence lapse to force a 1-1 in 2026 World Cup Group F qualifiers at Bingu National Stadium in Area 48 in Lilongwe.

Kenya playing at home could have easily punish their visiting Burundians but mother luck was not on their side as they squandered half chances in both halves.

Although playing away from home, the Burundians enjoyed massive support from Burundians residing at Dzaleka in Dowa and they came in numbers.

 Burundi with their fantastic display of passing game were marvel to watch and they had team leave it late to force a draw on counter attack. 

With the draw, both teams have points from three games and Kenya are third on the log while Burundi are fourth while Gambia and Seychelles are yet to register a point in the qualifiers.

Group F is being led by Ivory Coast with six points followed by Gambia with the same points margin but they have played two games each.

Ivory Coast is playing host to Gambia late on Friday evening and the Ivoirians will travel to Malawi to face Kenya on Tuesday next week.

The First 10 minutes of the game, Burundi had an upper hand piling pressure towards Kenya’s territory through massive counter attacks from the wings.

Kenya mounted an attack after 12 minutes where their captain, Olunga Ogada shot was parried away by in-form Burundian keeper, Jonathan Nahimana and 14 minutes later, Ogada had another chance by the keeper fumbled his powerful shot.

Kenya’s winger, Miheso Ayisi put through Mugambi Muguna but his long range drive was craftily saved by top notch keeper, Nahimana.

The two teams were deadlocked 0-0 at half time and Burundian keeper was on top of his game with his exciting saves.

 At the start of the second half, Burundi made a double substitution they brought in Aladin Msanga and Amissi Mohamed for Abedi Bigirimana and Baininwa Liongola.

Burundi came closest from scoring after 51 minutes when Bienvenu Kanakimana had his effort eluded Kenyan goal minder, Patrick Matasi but the ball hit the upright with nobody to tap in.

Kenya could have opened the scoring after 62 minutes but a lob over keeper, Nahimana from Timothy Ouma was punched away for safety.

Things work well for the home side, when they brought in Miheso Ayisi and Timothy Ouma for Austine Odhiambo Otieno and Duke Abuya respectively in the 65th minute and the game improved for the better.

Seven minutes later, Kenya’s substitute, Abuya planted home a pass from Otieno by beating advancing Burundi keeper, Nahimana to make it 1-0.

With six minutes to time, Burundi leveled the scores 1-1 through a counter attacker in the goal scorer, Sudi Abdallah had outpaced Kenyan defender, Omorwa Otieno and gave no chance to Kenyan goal minder, Matasi to save the situation.

Late substitutions were made with five minutes added on the clock, the two teams failed to find the winner.

Kenyan Coach, Engin Firat simply echoed, “This is not the results we wanted, we knew it could be hard game for us because Burundi has fast players who are always playing long balls upfront.”

He admitted that the first 15 minutes of the game they did not play their usual passing game as a team.

Burundi Coach, Etienne Ndayiragiye said was happy that his charges finished the game well and forced a draw although Kenya gave them tough game.

“I am glad that football lovers have enjoyed the entertaining football his team played and the spirit his players showed despite that they were one down,” he said.

By Daniel Siame

Lilongwe, June 7, Mana: After receiving cold chain equipment from the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) in collaboration with Unicef and Master Card Foundation, the Government of Malawi through the Ministry of Health, says it is committed to ensure that no child is left behind on immunization.

Deputy minister of Health, Halima Alima Daudi, made the statement during the handover ceremony of the cold chain equipment in Lilongwe.

She said as Malawi recently suffered from a number of catastrophic events including Cyclones, Covid-19 Pandemic, Polio and Cholera, the country`s resource basket underwent a huge set back in the delivery of health care services including immunization, therefore the support from the Africa CDC has come at the right time.

“The equipment we are receiving today will play a crucial role in ensuring the safe and effective storage of vaccines, ultimately leading to improved immunization coverage and the prevention of vaccine-preventable diseases in our country.” Daudi said.

With the procurement through Unicef and financial aid from Mastercard foundation, the Africa CDC has handed over 722 vaccine carriers, 6 freezers, 10 vaccine refrigerators, 12 cold boxes, 7 solar-powered refrigerators, and various spare parts.

Regional Director of Africa CDC, Dr. Lul Pout Riek, said the equipment will support Malawi’s expanded program on immunization by improving storage capacity of all vaccines and the introduction of new ones knowing that vaccines are the best way to protect Malawian children and communities from preventable diseases.

“This handover marks just the first phase of our commitment to Malawi. We are planning phase two that will focus on completing the vaccination of healthcare workers and vulnerable groups, building a robust workforce of community health workers.” He said.

The Cold chain equipment support by the Africa CDC will help the Ministry to reach out to the most remote areas in Malawi, overcoming power, transport and storage challenges therefore fulfilling its mandate to reach each and every child in the urban and mostly rural communities.

By Innocent Kachingwe & Pempho Nkhoma

Blantyre, June 7, Mana: A group of women from the Seventh Day Adventist Church conducted a clean-up exercise of the Blantyre District Council premises earlier this week, promoting cleanliness and spiritual uplifting.

The women, clad in their uniforms, swept, mopped and collected trash, transforming the council’s surroundings.

They also sang praises to the Lord before sharing the word of God to people around the area.

In an interview with Malawi News Agency (Mana), Director of Women and Children for Malawi Conference for the South, Tendai Mambala said the initiative is done in different special places such as prisons, hospitals, markets and orphanages.

“We want to keep the surroundings clean and also motivate workers through the word of God so that they should not lose hope. We believe that by serving our community we are also serving God,” Mambala said.

She pledged that the SDA Women Ministry will continue to clean other places, pointing out that in the previous week they had swept Limbe and Blantyre markets as one way of promoting cleanliness and preaching the gospel, noting that cleanliness is close to godliness.

Blantyre City Council (BCC) Public Relations Officer, Deborah Luka commended the SDA Women Ministry for cleaning BCC premises, saying this is complementing the clean-up initiatives carried out by the city council.

“As BCC we do clean up campaigns symbolically to make sure that residents should adopt and embrace the concept and it is the responsibility of every city resident to keep the surroundings clean,” Luka said.

By Memory Chatonda

Blantyre, June 7, Mana: Blantyre District Council through the Climate Smart Enhanced Public Works Programme (CS-EPWP) has for the first time trained 40 digitizers to collect accurate data of the work being done by communities participating in restoring degraded landscapes to facilitate timely payment of their wages.

Speaking during the training on Thursday, Blantyre District Council Principal Information Management Analyst, Bengula Mhone said the digitizers are from 15 catchment areas including Chilambalare, Mgawa, Lirangwe 2, Mlombozi, Mikundi, Somba, Mabala, Mikundi, and Linjemesi where the project is being implemented in the district.

Mhone said the digitizers will make use of Mthandizi monitoring tool which is an android-based application to record daily work logs of the participants that are recorded on log sheets and the information will be directly captured into computer systems from the catchments.

“This will streamline the wages preparation process and the participants will enjoy timely receipt of their wages. This also means the subsequent cycles will start on time because there will not be any delays in between the cycle,” said Mhone.

Mhone said in the near future, the application shall also be used by extension workers to record progress and images of all project works.

Director of Planning and Development for Blantyre District Council, Melayi Mhone advised the digitizers to work with a high level of integrity and professionalism to ensure that accurate data is captured so that wages are paid on time.

Mary Sipuni, one of the digitizers from Nazombe catchment area, hailed the council for the training, pledging to utilize the knowledge gained to gather and record accurate data from the participants of the project.

One of the project participants from Mikundi catchment area, Moses Molofati said he is delighted with the new step which the council has taken to ensure that they receive their payments in time to support their households.

“At the moment, we wait for two weeks, sometimes a month after completing work in the cycle for the wages to reflect in our mobile phone wallet. But we are happy with this new development and we pledge to cooperate well with our digitizers,” he said.

CS-EPWP is implemented by district councils with support from the Multi-Donor Trust Fund, including the World Bank. The project is facilitated by the National Local Government Finance Committee.

In Blantyre, close to 17,200 communities participate in the project where they are involved in restoring degraded landscapes such as tree planting, construction of swales, gully reclamation and natural tree regeneration activities.

By Brighton Thengoliweta Chimsinde

Mchinji, June 7, Mana: People in Mchinji have expressed concern over higher prices of sugar in the district as compared to other districts in the country.

The concern was raised during a snap survey which Malawi News Agency (Mana) conducted on challenges people are facing in accessing sugar, and how accessible the commodity is on the market in the border district.

A wholesaler, Chikumbutso Chimwendo plying his trade at Matutu Trading Centre in the area of Chief Mduwa in the district, said pricing of sugar is not stable because it is still scarce on the market which has made some of the wholesalers travel to Lilongwe to procure the product.

Chimwendo said they incur extra expenses to get the product from other districts consequently resulting in higher price for them to make profit.

“The price of sugar is not stable because of its scarcity. For instance, some retailers are still selling a packet of one Kilogramme (Kg) at MK3, 500 or MK4, 000. So far the whole district has only Wautali Distributor operational and with inadequate supply.

“It is my plea that the relevant authorities consider establishing an additional sugar distribution depot in the district as it was sometimes back where we had Simama Depot at the boma,” Chimwendo said.

In neighbouring districts of Lilongwe and Kasungu sugar is being sold between MK2, 200 and MK2, 800.

Vice Council Chairperson of Mchinji District Council, Mickson Chikutu said people in his ward are still buying a packet of sugar at a minimum price of MK3, 500.

Wautali Distribution Mchinji Depot Manager, Chipiliro Yotamu said price of Sugar in Mchinji is not stable because of porous international boundaries, low supply, higher demand, and instability of the Malawi kwacha.

“It is true that the retail price of Illovo Sugar is on the rise because smugglers are ferrying the sugar to Zambia as it is in demand because of its good quality. In addition, the price is not stable because we have been receiving 90 tonnes per week of sugar for the entire district which is inadequate.

“At least 150 tonnes of the commodity per week should be enough for the district. Another thing is that the instability of the Malawi kwacha against other foreign currencies is disturbing the effort of normalizing the situation,” Yotamu said.