By Collings Kalivute and Wanangwa Tembo

Kasungu, June 5, Mana: For decades, Malawi's economy has been heavily dependent on agriculture activities with over 80 percent of the country's population involved in subsistence farming and pockets of commercial farming existing here and there.

However, poor farming activities coupled with changing climatic patterns have weightily impacted the sector with farmers registering unprecedented low yields while dependence on chemical fertilisers has risen.

Japhet Chilembwe, 38, from Chisamba village in the area of Senior Chief Kaomba in Kasungu bears testimony to the sad reality that there has been an exponential dwindling of crop harvest in recent years.

“In the recent years, I have not harvested enough to adequately support my family. The soils are infertile and fertilisers are expensive,” he says.

Chilembwe says he now understands that climate change is real and that faming approaches must change if the majority rural population that depends on farming is to survive.

Equally, Fales Ng’oma of Sub-Traditional Authority (STA) Ndume in the district has seen the bluntness of the changing climatic patterns.

She says efforts towards restoration must be taken seriously in the face of shrinking crop harvest.

“We must stop living in denial. Instead, we need to change our mindset towards approaches to farming if we are to start harvesting bumper yields as was the case in the past years.

“This time the soils are no longer fertile and the rains have changed their pattern. In the end most of us are food insecure because we failed to harvest enough despite the efforts we made in our gardens,” Ng’oma says.

Last year, both Ng’oma and Chilembwe were among the crew of lead farmers on a learning visit to Chinkuntha Farm in Dowa courtesy of Jesuits Center for Ecology and Development (JCED) under its three year Tasintha Mlimi project.

This visit marked the turning point for the two farmers as they learnt modern approaches to farming that are now proving game changers for their lives.

“The visit was an eye opener because I learnt a lot about modern agro-ecological farming approaches which I am now implementing.

“With technical expertise from JCED I now have an acre orchard; I’m also into bee keeping and able to harvest a lot through the use of modern ways of farming using organic fertiliser that uses locally available resources like urine and trash,” Chilembwe says.

Chilembwe’s orchard has 200 banana, 60 pawpaw, 35 mango and 30 orange trees.

“I also have a personal forest of 800 bluegum trees. Besides, I rear pigs and chickens which help me with manure for my farm.

“I want to increase the farm and increase production. With more training and extension advice, I am poised to make it big,” he says. 

While expressing his gratitude to JCED, Chilembwe laments the fast drying up of rivers and a low water table in his area saying it is a big setback to his ambitions.

“The challenge is that I use a water-cane to water the trees in the orchard. With the numbers I have given you, you can see that it’s not an easy task,” he says.

On her part, Ng’oma says following the learning visit, she, as a champion lead farmer, introduced three women groups aimed at empowering women into modern and sustainable ways of agriculture.

“As you know women are vulnerable when it comes to financial issues hence I decided to establish these groups to empower and mentor my fellow women with modern and sustainable ways of farming to curb the challenges we face.

“We have banana plantations as a group and we are also extending the knowledge to our respective homes,” Ng'oma says.

Ndaona Kanguwo, a member of Talandira Women Group says the agro-ecology approach to farming has helped her to chart paths that would help the family graduate out of financial quagmire and improve their nutritional status.

Just like Chilembwe, she laments the water woes in the area as a big challenge for her.

“The nearest water point is two kilometres from the garden. So it’s a challenge.

“As an individual, I have 36 banana trees that need at least 20 litres of water each per day. At our site as a group we have 160 banana trees and you can imagine how taxing the watering exercise is,” explained Kanguwo.

Kanguwo calls upon well-wishers to help them with a solar powered water system to ease their watering of crops.

Group Village Head Kakhumbi, a long time tobacco farmer said he has decided to quit the cultivation of the green gold, opting to embrace modern and sustainable ways of farming where he said he can make money on a small piece of land while conserving the environment.  

“I have planted bananas, mangoes, oranges and pawpaw which will give me money at frequent intervals than tobacco which is seasonal. This is my pension,” he says.

Funded by Misean Cara and Germany Weitweit to the tune of K414 million, Tasintha Mlimi (Transforming Farming) aims at building and strengthening the resilience and adaptive capacity of farmers through climate smart agriculture techniques, agro-ecology, ecosystems restoration and provision of sustainable livelihoods in the low income areas of Kasungu.

The four year project, running from 2023 to 2026 also aims to improve livelihoods opportunities for the vulnerable farming households by promoting diversified sources of income

Officer for the project, Mathews Phwandaphwanda says the initiative follows key issues identified in Kasungu District Development Plan of 2017 to 2022.

“So this initiative is a response to such concerns such as low productivity due to land degradation, unstable weather conditions and climate variability including erratic rainfall, strong winds, hail storms and dry spells,

“There is also massive deforestation due to tobacco farming, poor farming practices and increased demand for farm land,” he says.

Phwandaphwanda also points out poor market linkages and low value addition interventions among the farmers, poor diversification of livelihoods sources, low environmental awareness and loss of fertility due to conventional farming practices promoted overtime.

“We also want to see enhancement in the provision of ecosystem services through restoration of ecosystems and catchment areas.

“Besides, we also aim to achieve improved integration of pro-poor and gender inclusive policies in national climate and development frameworks,” he says.  

Specifically, the project targets 1, 500 households as direct beneficiaries with at least 75 percent women and youths in STAs Ndume, Chisazima, and Suza in Chipala Extension Planning Area.

As part of the project activities, there is provision extension services through farmers who are model farmers and have ability to influence others to adopt intervention techniques.

Through the project, farmers are organised in farmer field schools where they learn their farming practices by doing and sharing experiences.

Phwandaphwanda says JCED has been witnessing continued threat to food security and nutrition deficiencies, low income, extreme poverty, land degradation, and loss of biodiversity.

“These problems are coming out as a result of limited agriculture production, post-production capacities and poor understanding of indigenous food systems.

“There is also poor knowledge on the value of local food systems which is leading to loss of some nutritious crops and biodiversity,” he says.

He says there is limited diversification of production and income with the majority of smallholders relying on single subsistence or cash crops, mostly maize and tobacco, increasing vulnerability to shocks including those related to climate change.

He adds: “Lack of access to climate information related to agriculture and extension advisory services has led to lack in capacity of farmers in strategies that respond to the extreme climatic changes caused by climate change.

“Some farmers have completely shifted to inorganic/chemical-based modes of farming that have had a negative impact on the regenerative capacity of their land.”

JCED is a social and sustainable development work of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) of the Southern Africa Province and is engaged in resilience building, adaptation and climate justice advocacy targeting those most affected and vulnerable in rural and marginalised communities.