By Moses Nyirenda

Lilongwe, May 15, Mana: Minister of Agriculture, Sam Kawale has expressed the need for more youth to be involved in agriculture if the country’s agriculture sector was to develop.

He made the remarks on Wednesday in Lilongwe during the launch of five-year project dubbed ‘Youth Entrepreneurship for the Future of Agriculture (YEFFA)’ which will be implemented in the country by Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) with support from MasterCard.

Kawale said that youth in the country are in large population and have various capabilities that would help to develop the agriculture sector.

“Over 50 percent of population in the country are young people if we leave them behind the country will never develop that is why right now as you can see more programmes are now geared towards young people because they have the energy, creative and they are passionate?

“We need to harness all those asserts of the youth and put them in the agriculture sector so that they can contribute meaningfully to the future of the sector,” the Minister observed.

He added that his Ministry was committed to supporting the youth in different ways which include providing them with loans so that they should venture in commercial agriculture and help in achieving some of the pillars stipulated in Malawi 2063.

Kawale applauded AGRA for coming up with YEFFA project saying that the project would empower more young people to venture into agriculture.

“Over 251, 000 young people are going to have access to financing form MasterCard through AGRA’s new project this is not small amount of people it is significant number of young people who will directly benefit.

“At the end of the five year programme, we are expecting to see young people who are now economically empowered to go into agricultural production as well as value addition and the families are going to develop and the country will also develop,” he said.

AGRA Country Director, Eluphy Nyirenda said that as AGRA they decided to come up with their new project to support the youth with resources in order for them to help in boosting the country’s agri-food system.

“About 50 percent of Malawians are below the age of 35 and these are the ones that are loitering around looking for jobs or financing to start up their businesses.

“It was based on this background to come up with the project so that we can contribute to agri- food system by bringing on board the youth who are passionate about agriculture,” he said.

The launch of YEFFA project was patronized by youth, officials from Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Youth and Sports and AGRA among other government and private sector dignitaries.

By Vincent Khonje

Mchinji, May 15, Mana: Communities of Group Village Head, Wirima in the area of Traditional Authority (TA) Gumba in Mchinji District have for the first time in their lives gained access to tapped water.

Previously, the lack of potable water forced the communities to rely on unsafe boreholes and shallow wells, leading to frequent waterborne diseases.

Speaking on Tuesday when Source of Life Children Foundation handed over a solar-powered water system to the village, the Organization’s Country Representative, Innocent Semu said they thought of going to the area because people have never enjoyed potable water for a long time.

“Finding safe water has been a challenge for the people over the past 50 years and they were forced to get water from wells where they shared the water with animals,

“We have brought in safe water to the community where they will be getting the water from the taps which is convenient to them,” he pointed out.

A community member, Stella Grey said she used to wake up at 4 am to be first to get to a well, but the wells usually dried up.

“The shallow wells in the Village are a source of diseases because they are not well protected and our children used to often get sick. I am happy to see tapped water in our village for the first time,” she explained.

Commenting on waterborne diseases and unavailability of safe water, Senior Disease Control and Surveillance Officer under Gumba Health Centre, Allan Banda said there was only one borehole in the area which makes waterborne diseases to rise.

“As a result of poor water sources, 10 Dysentery cases are registered in children under the age of five. We are hopeful the situation will change now,” he hoped.

TA Gumba was all praises of the development in her area.

“I am very happy with the water system in this area and will make sure the community take care of it,” she said.

Source of Life Children Foundation is a child-focused Christian Not-for-profit organization and apart from water and sanitation, it works in the area of climate change, education, women empowerment and permaculture among others.

 By Rose Cross

Mzuzu, May 15, Mana: Despite efforts to promote girls’ education and empowerment in the country, child marriages and early pregnancies continue slowing down and counteracting efforts in promoting girls’ education.

Random interviews with different institutions, including some youth in Mzimba North and Mzuzu City have revealed that some of the factors fueling early marriages and teen pregnancies include high poverty levels, limited access to Sexual Reproductive Health Rights (SRH) Services and poor parental support.

A young bride, Salomy Jere who got pregnant soon after enrolling for her first year in college at the age of 17, argued that there was need for increased access to SRHR education and services to enable young people, including girls to have an option to protect themselves from such sexual mishaps.

“When I got pregnant, I lived in regret and couldn’t go back home to my mother who is a single parent; as such I had to get married. I didn’t plan on getting pregnant but doing sex for fun made it happen.

“I believe if there can be intensive education on SRHR, situations like what I went through can be limited,” Jere said, holder of Diploma in Business Management.

Executive Director for Citizen Impact Organisation (CIO), Chimwemwe Banda concurred with Jere, saying most parents and guardians do not open up to their girl children on sexual relationship issues such that girls get either incomplete or wrong information from peers and some people who advance for them.

“Aside creating more spaces for girls to access sexual reproductive health services, girls need information for them to be empowered   to them to have self- esteem so that they request or access the services as their right.

“The issue of child marriages is directly connected to early pregnancies because most girls who enter into early marriage are forced into it after falling pregnant,” she said, whose organization was establishing community hubs where girls who are withdrawn from marriages meet and send back to school.

Founder and Director for Uchembere Wabwino, a Reproductive Health Facility in the heart of Mzuzu City, Lucy Msukwa acknowledged that teen pregnancy was a challenge which shouldn’t be ignored by government and stakeholders if girl education and empowerment was to be achieved.

She disclosed that the facility treats a minimum of three cases related to teen pregnancies each week, a development that forced the organisation to introduce “Uchembere Youth for Change”, a youth outreach programme which engages secondary school going youth on SRH services.

“Through the initiative, we go to secondary schools and interface students on the importance of abstinence and dangers of teen pregnancies among others. We also discuss with them various entrepreneurial skills such as making floor polish from recycled plastics and fire briquettes.

“Aside intensifying health education provision to the youths, there is also need to create more flexible health care tools and procedures so that health facilities and workers are accommodative to youths,” Msukwa added.

She observed that a lot still needs to be done by both government and non-state actors in censoring SRH information which was meant for the youth consumption.

“I feel information should center more on the preventive side other than concentrating on contraceptives which brings more complications when not properly used,” the Director said.

Amidst challenges of limited information and access to SRH services, Executive Director for Judith Foundation, an institution which offers education bursary schemes to secondary school girls in Mzimba North District, Judith Chbambo discovered that girls need formal education to beat financial woes affecting their respective homes.

“A girl who does not know her rights will continuously be a victim of abuse including being sent into early marriage.

“There is need for the girls to be provided with formal education so that they can voice out their concerns and beat poverty,” she noted.

Chibambo acknowledged that the fight is not only to prevent teen pregnancies, but to restore the honor of those who were already been defiled.

“While preventing teen girls from getting pregnant is the main goal, we should not leave behind those who fell pregnant and this is why as an organization, we are supporting those who were once pregnant to go back to school.

“We need to be there to tell them that all is not lost,” she said.

Chibambo was optimistic that consolidated efforts in implementing initiatives that encourage girl education are the way to go.

“It is true that teen pregnancies and early marriages are affecting the outcome of our efforts in fostering girl education since when a beneficiary drops out, we need to find a replacement and such expenses are difficult to justify to donors.

“We always look at the brighter side of this all. If we work together and intensify efforts to reduce and indeed curb such pregnancies, there will be no school dropout; at the same time, we feel the gaps created by drop outs can be filled by those that are re-admitted after delivering their child,” she added.

District Youth Officer (DYO) for Mzimba North and responsible for Mzuzu City, Misheck Msokwa said his office was scaling up civic education activities as a way of ensuring that young girls are get necessary information for them to develop into their full potential.

“We are aware that some of these challenges are escalated by harmful cultural practices which are exposse young girls to early sexual activities. We are working with community youth hubs so that we reaching out too, to many youths with information on the dangers of indulging in early sexual activities.

“We are working with stakeholders to provide various skills to youths as a means of reducing their financial challenges which are some of the drivers of such practices,” he said.

Recently, Deputy Minister of Health, Halima Daudi disclosed that cases of teenage pregnancies are at 29 percent.

She urged stakeholders to reflect on potential factors influencing such incidents in different parts of the country.

Daudi was speaking during the launching ceremony of a Faith Based Approach to SRHR sexual at Ntaja in Machinga District.

By Sylvester Kumwenda

Dowa, May 15, Mana: Small scale business entrepreneurs at Bowe in Traditional Authority (TA) Chakhaza in Dowa have said the construction of Bowe market shed by Dowa district Council under the Governance to Enable Service Delivery (GESD) has improved businesses at the market and their livelihoods.

A Tomato business lady from Kachenga Village, Judith Banda said initially, they used to sell from grass thatched makeshift structures which was a challenge.

“Hygiene was a problem. There were risks of fires because of the grass. When it rained, we used to halt our businesses and run for shelter. This heavily affected our income because if you made little or no sales meant you would not have food.

“But the with this shed, we can sell the whole day without any disturbances which is good for business and in sustaining our daily livelihoods,” she said.

A Fish Seller from Mwalala Village, Joseph Cosmas said his sales have improved.

He said he used to make less than K20,000 a day but since moving into the shed which has been constructed to a tune of K 35 million, he makes around K30,000 and on a good day he can hit K40,000.

“This has helped me as I can now provide for my family with livelihood needs like sugar, soap, and clothes,” Cosmas said.

The Shed which was constructed alongside a VIP toilet contains lockers which he said provide both safety and storage space for their goods.

“Fish are easily perishable goods and rot easily once drenched in water. This made us lose especially during rainy seasons. But I can now safely keep the fish in lockers, and we no longer carry our goods to and from home on daily basis,” he said.

Chairperson of Bowe Market, Kondwani Wasitino thanked GESD project which is being implemented by the National Local Government Finance Committee in councils with funding from the World Bank.

He said as a market committee, they are enforcing ticket sales amongst traders which he said was contributing to the council’s income generation activities.

Under GESD, Councils are funded for developmental activities based on their Local Assembly Performance Assessment.