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Mzuzu journalists drilled on SRHR reporting
By Tawonga Moyo
Mzuzu, March 24, Mana: Malawi Human Rights Resource Centre (MHRRC), in conjunction with Centre for Solutions Journalism, has drilled journalists under Nyika Media Club in the northern region, on reporting Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) issues.
The one-day orientation workshop held on Friday in Mzuzu was aimed at boarding journalists’ knowledge on what the law says on issues pertaining to SRHR.
MHRCC Project Manager, Enock Chinkhuntha, said they thought it wise to orient journalists on SRHR issues so that women and girls understand their right to health.
“We brought this project to journalists in the Northern Region so that we move together as we promote social justice especially among women and girls who fail to realize their health rights to the fullest.
“Many women and girls are finding themselves succumbing to unsafe abortions with others left with deformities in the process. We want journalists to understand various issues on SRHR so it helps them in their reporting,” said Chinkhutha.
According to Chinkhutha, in 2023, Malawi registered about 35,000 cases of unsafe abortion, which he described as unfortunate.
He, therefore, called upon members of parliament to hold a round table discussion on the magnitude of the problem.
Coordinator for Post Abortion Care for Mzimba North, Justine Mwafulirwa, said most women in rural communities go through dangerous methods of terminating pregnancy which results in grave consequences.
"A 2022 study by IPAS Malawi showed that 3,395 cases of abortion were inducted in public hospitals. Women, especially those in rural areas, resolt to drinking concoctions or insert objects inorder to terminate a pregnancy.
"This results in the introduction of bacteria in the body and health complications such as damage to the womb. They usually come to the hospital when it's already too late to save the situation," said Mwafulirwa.
Chairperson for Nyika Media Club, Feston Malekezo, thanked MHRCC for organizing the workshop saying, as journalists, they will now be able to write with informed minds having heard from various experts in different fields such as legal and health.
The orientation falls under Breaking the Barriers Project that the two organizations and other partners are implementing in the country with funds from United Kingdom based Amplify Change.
From farms to borders via warehouses: protecting farm produce exports from unscrupulous traders
By Robert Katuli
Lilongwe, March 24, Mana: When it comes to Malawi’s major exports, agriculture, especially on the farm produce side, has always been the mainstay. The exports from this sector include tobacco, tea, sugar, cotton, macadamia nuts, rice and groundnuts, among others.
While tobacco, tea and cane sugar together have been known to generate over 70 percent of export earnings (tobacco alone has been providing over 60 percent of foreign exchange earnings), it has not been the case with the other exports.
The country has, for a long time, been losing a lot of forex, as some traders have been taking advantage of lack of structured markets for farm produce like beans, maize, cowpeas, groundnuts, and soya beans and use other illegal means to export the commodities.
It is against such background that government introduced Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA)-controlled export warehouses last year to curb tax evasion and smuggling of farm produce.
Government amended some sections in the Customs and Excise Act, and one of the amendments requires exporters of some farm produce to export their goods through prescribed warehouses in line with the law.
With this law, government has ensured that all farm produce exit the country by following the right procedures and that exporters reconcile the forex with the Reserve Bank of Malawi. For exporters who go against this provision, there is punishment, in accordance with the law.
President Lazarus Chakwera, in this year’s state of the nation address he delivered on February 09, reiterated his administration’s quest to control the loss of forex from farm produce export proceeds.
“To ensure the repatriation of foreign exchange earned from produce exported from Malawi, my administration has restricted export licenses to selected commodities and to those exporters that use MRA bonded warehouses,” he said.
This export warehousing process entails storing goods in a warehouse for a certain period of time. The goods are inspected before being exported.
According to MRA head of corporate affairs Steven Kapoloma, more businesses are now coming to the Authority to get license to own and operate the export warehouses.
In the central region alone, more than 70 of such warehouses are operating, exporting farm produce like groundnuts, soya beans and rice, among others.
“We are overwhelmed by the number of people that want to own and operate export warehouses. Because those that were the pioneers of these export warehouses have reaped the benefits, more people are coming into their warehouses and using them to export,” said Kapoloma during a recent tour to some of the export warehouses in Lilongwe.
The warehouses initiative, says Kapoloma, has improved the process of tracking the farm produce export proceeds, from buying the commodities from the farms all the way to exporting them through the borders.
“We are able to track the movement of the produce from the farm gate to export warehouses all the way to exporting outside this country.
“We are able to track the quantities as they are getting into the warehouses and as they are getting out. This is a very good control measure as far as proceeds of our exports are concerned,” he adds.
Before introducing the export warehouses, according to MRA’s Lilongwe Exports Station Manager Queen Nkhata, most farm produce were frequently being smuggled out of the country.
“We have really improved with this new initiative put in place. Previously it (exporting farm produce) was not as controlled as it is. Farm produce were just taken out of the country without proper arrangements.
“With these new procedures, we are now controlling these farm produce from customs controlled warehouses. So, we are seeing some improvements and we are sure that we'll do even better,” Nkhata says.
Apart from what Nkhata is saying, that these export warehouses are helping to curb illegal exportation of farm produce, the warehouses are also, as Kapoloma has already indicated, benefitting the operators.
James Nyasulu is warehouse manager for African Commodities Trading in Lilongwe, and he hails the warehouse initiative, saying it has raised their business to higher standards.
“Before the export warehouses, our standards were a bit low because we didn't have time to grade the products.
“But with the export warehouses, we now have time to bring in the commodities, grade them and then export them,” he says, adding that their commodities have never been turned down for quality reasons, as it used to be the case before the warehouses were introduced.
Rachel Banda, an accountant at Giant Sprouts Ltd, an Exports and Imports company that owns a groundnuts export warehouse along the Bypass Road in Lilongwe, concurs with Nyasulu, waxing lyrical about the warehouses.
She says: “Before the warehouses, we could not take good care of our products like the way we do now. There was no proper security, and there was a lot of damage to the goods; we were making losses.
"But with the warehouse, there has never been a time when we lost any goods. The quantity that we bring in is the same quantity that we export. And we stock huge quantities because of the warehouse. So, the warehouse is helping us a lot.”
Of course MRA is encouraging farm produce exporters in the country to export their goods through these customs controlled warehouses for revenue collection purposes. This is in addition to protecting forex.
According to MRA, farm produce is among the goods most smuggled from the country. It, therefore, makes a lot of sense to put proper mechanisms in place to guard against the vice.
With good measures in place, the outlook for proceeds to be realized from exporting farm produce looks bright.
Speaking to the media when he toured Gala Macadamia Farm (Gala Macs) in Lilongwe on Wednesday last week, Minister of Agriculture Sam Kawale said exporting macadamia nuts has potential to generate a lot of revenue for the country.
Through Gala Macs alone, said Kawale, it is expected that US$30 million can be generated annually through exporting the commodity. For this reason, government intends to empower more farmers to embark on macadamia farming for export purposes.
This is the sort of potential that government, through MRA, is trying to protect through the export warehouses.
However, after restricting export licenses to farm produce exporters who use MRA bonded warehouses, which is what President Chakwera says his administration has done, perhaps it is high time government rather focused on more ways of incentivizing this kind of exporters.
These should be ways on top of what the Ministry of Trade sometimes does by coming in to help traders secure export markets for their commodities. This can be done better, with well-structured mechanisms in place, and in a more coordinated way.
A lot surely needs to be done by all stakeholders to ensure that those trading in exporting the country’s farm produce embrace the customs controlled warehouse initiative, which has proved beneficial to both government and traders.
Kasungu camp residents to be relocated after 12 years
By Abubakar Kanjoka
Kasungu, March 23, Mana: District Commissioner for Kasungu, James Kanyangalazi, says there is hope that the residents of the 12-year-old Nthunduwala camp could be relocated to a better place at least before the new farming season later in the year.
The congested half-acre camp, located about 70 kilometers west of Kasungu boma, is home to 127 households with a total of about 380 people who became homeless after being evicted from the tobacco estates where they were working as tenants.
Retrenched in the mid-1990s, the families went to Zambia, working in farms on the encroached western side of Kasungu National Park before being banished and dumped at Nthunduwala in 2012 where they were told they would temporarily stay for one week.
About 12 years down the line, the families are still at the camp living in conditions which Catholic Centre for Justice and Peace Coordinator for Kasungu Hastings Kalima describes as inhuman.
However, in an interview on Friday, Kanyangalazi said the creation of a taskforce to lead the discussions with relevant authorities could see an identification of land and the eventually relocation taking place later this year so that the families cultivate their own crops.
His remarks follow a two-day meeting convened by Kasungu District Peace and Unity Committee (DPUC) last week to discuss the bottlenecks that have delayed the relocation of the camp residents and find possible solutions to expedite the resettlement.
The meeting ended with an establishment of a taskforce to restart and spearhead the process.
Kanyangalazi said since 2015, there have been efforts to settle the families on some identified land but the efforts have not been successful due to various factors.
Said Kanyangalazi: “It is unfortunate that these people have been at the place for the past 12 years starting from 2012. Efforts to have them settled elsewhere started way back in 2015.
“For example, we have at one point reached out to the Ministry of Lands to identify land so that government buys it. About 200 acres of land was identified, but there were no funds.”
He said all further efforts from that time up to 2023 also failed to realise success that could lead to the ‘decommissioning’ of the camp.
“For sure we will get some land for these people. I’m happy that the stakeholders meeting that was convened decided to create a taskforce to assist government officials to push for the same.
“We have in it members of the civil society, non-governmental organisations and other independent people to try to work things around so that come this farming season, these people should be relocated. The process has really delayed and it’s really sad,” said Kanyangalazi.
Chairperson for the taskforce, Kate Chibwana Nkhata said they will try to lobby with the relevant government offices to ensure that families are given land so that they live an independent and productive life.
She said: “The problem has been that relevant stakeholders haven’t been working as a team despite having the same goal. So as a taskforce, we will ensure that we bring together all the stakeholders and work as one.”
In his remarks, Malawi Peace and Unity (MPUC) Commissioner, Francis Mkandawire said people at the camp have for so long been subjected to social, psychological and emotional abuse and asked the taskforce to speed up its work to help safeguard their rights.
“Currently there is hunger at the camp. As such, I would urge the taskforce to help solicit aid from well-wishers to buy food stuffs and other basic necessities while at the same time fighting for these people to be given permanent land to do their own farming,” he said.
Member of Parliament for Kasungu West Constituency, Jailosi Bonongwe said politics has contributed to delays to relocate the families and urged members of the taskforce to put politics aside this time as they try to find a solution.
Dedza District Council hands over MK36 million bridge
By Steve Chirombo
Dedza, March 23, Mana: Dedza District Council on Friday handed over a concrete bridge worthy over MK36 million to communities of Group Village Headman Chipeni under Senior Chief Kaphuka which has been constructed with funds under the District Development Funds (DDF).
For a long time, communities in the areas of Ntapo, Chipeni and Kamfundula have had a hustle of their lives in as far as crossing the river to the other side of the villages to access social amenities was concerned.
Dedza District Council, Chairperson, Councilor Themuka Nkhweu, said he was happy to witness the grand opening of the bridge which he said will improve coordination among surrounding communities.
He thanked the contractor, Manjawira Contractors, for what he described as good and quality work as well as completing it within stated time-frame of three months.
“There are problems everywhere and it takes good leadership to receive such developments. The handing over of Nadulu bridge today, is in-line with our vision as council to provide sustainable developments to the people,” said Nkhewu.
On his part, Group Village Headman (GVH) Chipeni, said all along they thought bridges were meant for urban areas and regarded the gesture by Dedza District Council as a dream coming true and as an honour.
“The absence of the bridge has been a problem for some time and facilities such as schools were further apart but now we have an easy road connection,” he said.
Director of Planning and Development (DPD) for Dedza, McPherson Mwakhwawa, hailed communities’ participation during construction to which he said resulted in its success.
While calling for the full ownership, he reminded communities that the council implements projects from the Village Action Plans (VAPs) and urged them to always formulate plans of whatever development they want.
NGO moves to equip farmers with new agricultural technologies
By Andrew Mkonda
Lilongwe, March 23, Mana: Tiyeni, a local based Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) aimed at promoting sustainable farming in the country, has challenged farmers in Lilongwe district to start embracing new agricultural technologies in order for them to have bumper yield.
Tiyeni Country Director, Isaac Chavula made the call on Friday at Mkoma primary school ground in the area of Traditional Authority Chimutu in Kalulu Extension Planning Area (EPA) during deep bed farming method field day.
“Times have changed because of climate change and farmers now should start cultivating in a different way. So by bringing in deep bed farming method, we want farmers to start managing soil and water because deep bed farming harvest rain water and controls erosion,” said Chavula.
Chavula then said it is interesting and encouraging that many farmers in the district have started using and appreciating the new agricultural technologies in their farms because they have realized that using deep bed farming is not just mere farming, but also a business.
“We have seen farmers using this kind of farming, getting eight tonnes per hectare, this is the way to go. We have also seen other crops such as groundnuts, tobacco and soya doing well using deep bed farming,” he said.
Deputy Director under Land Resources Conservation Department in the Ministry of Agriculture, Gilbert Mponda thanked Tiyeni for the initiative saying the new farming technologies will assist farmers to respond positively to climate change.
Mponda said it is encouraging that the farming technologies that Tiyeni has brought are really bringing positive results to farmers and very soon the ministry will roll out to other districts country wide.
Speaking on behalf of other farmers who have benefited with the initiative, Cosmas Mwale, said if many farmers can embrace this kind of farming country wide, Malawi will be a food basket nation.
“We have been working hard in our fields for a long time, but we couldn’t find any benefit, then since Tiyeni taught us this new method we are able to have enough food for our families and sell the surplus.
“Just imagine on an area of 0.8 hactares, I am expecting to harvest 140 bags of 50kgs of maize using this method of deep bed farming and manure utilization, I challenge you, I cannot be poor,” he said.
GESD school block excites Dedza communities
By Steve Chirombo
Dedza, March 23, Mana: Communities under Mwenje area in Traditional Authority Kaphuka in Dedza district, were all smiles on Friday with hopes for improved education standards when the district council officially handed over Katongole school block worthy over K58 million under the World Bank’s Governance to Enable Service Delivery (GESD) project.
Vice Council Chairperson for Dedza district council, Shyreen Gamulani, said she hoped more parents will now start sending their children to school citing rumors that most parents and guardians kept their wards at home for fear of unconducive learning environment at the school.
“This handover of a school block today should not only be a demonstration but rather to aid our children access quality education because we all know that education is key to social-economic development,” she said.
Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Willard Gwengwe, who officially opened the school block, expressed gratitude for the project. He further asked the learners to be exemplary and work hard in their studies in order to become successful future leaders.
On his part, Julius Kamwaza, Dedza District Council Chief Education Officer, said issues of learning space were a huge concern in the ministry as well as in schools around the district and that the handing over of the school block was a great step ahead that aligns with the Malawi 2063 agenda being pursued by the Malawi government under the leadership of President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera whose one goal is to provide quality education to the citizenry.
“We hope this development will benefit the whole Mwenje catchment area. And as council, we are very satisfied with the standard of the building after recommending some defects to which the contractor complied to. It is therefore our plea to the community members, learners and the teachers to take care of the structure,” he said.
He however noted that despite the challenges the education sector is facing, government is doing its best as funds towards acquisition of teaching and learning materials have more than doubled.
He appealed for more partners to assist, observing despite the effort by government, enrollment numbers are still high.
A standard seven learners at the school, Mphatso Evason, said they appreciate government for the school block, the desks and latrines saying in the absence of these, they found learning environment not conducive.
She called on her fellow learners to care for the structure for their benefit and those to come after them.
Za Kwathu ku Namitambo in afforestation drive
By Evance Chisiano
Chiradzulu, March 23, Mana: A grouping of people from Namitambo area in Chiradzulu under the name Zakwathu Ku Namitambo (ZKN) Trust has handed over 400 seedlings to three schools within Traditional Authority Mpunga in the district to instill environmental consciousness among leaners that are expected to plant the trees in their schools within the forestry season.
ZKN Trust member and leaners at Namitambo, Chingoma and Malowa schools planted the seedlings on Saturday while other trees are expected to be planted soon.
Speaking at Namitambo School on Saturday, ZKN Trust National Coordinator. Pacharo Namatumbo urged learners to appreciate effects of climate change and start taking positive steps towards addressing problems that arise as a result of environmental degradation.
“We expect that you will take care of the trees by protecting them against damage,” he said, adding that ZKN Trust in collaboration with forestry extension worker for Namitambo area will continue monitoring the trees to ensure a higher survival rate.
Wildlife Environmental Society of Malawi (WESM) donated the trees to ZKN Trust for distribution in schools at Namitambo as complimentary to afforestation drive in the current forestry season which started on December 15, 2023 and will end on April 15, 2024.
Namatumbo commended WESM for responding to ZKN Trust’s request for tree seedlings.
Head teacher for Namitambo School, Charles Majawa expressed gratitude to ZKN Trust’s for the afforestation drive and pledged to take care of the trees so that they benefit them in future.
“We will assign classes to take care of the trees and we will make sure that we are watering the seedlings to increase survival rate,” he said.
Forestry Assistant responsible for Namitambo area, Brand Abraham commended ZKN Trust for complementing Chiradzulu District Forestry Office’s quest for forest coverage in schools, homes, hills and along streams in order to control land degradation and to provide wind shield to schools that are usually blown off by strong winds.
“We really appreciate the tree seedlings donation. This is complimentary because the forestry office always encourage tree planting in the communities,” he said.
ZKN Trust comprises groups of people who come from Namitambo whose objective is to improve people`s livelihood in the area as well as to promote agriculture and encourage people to actively participate in good governance.,
The trust also donated an ambulance to Namitambo Health Center in September 2019 to improve mobility and in 2017 to 2020, ZKN supported 124 secondary school girls and boys with schools’ fees, uniforms, notebooks and school bags.
ln 2017 t0 2020 the trust also distributed food and non-food items in Namitambo area to poor households to improve their livelihood.
SADC calls for unity of blocks in fighting crises
By Rose Cross Mahorya in Lusaka, Zambia
Lusaka, March 23, Mana: President Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia and Chairperson of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, has asked regional blocks world over to unite and deal with security crises together for continued world peace.
Speaking when he opened a meeting on SADC countries contributing missions to Mozambique and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) under the Extraordinary SADC Organ Troika Summit at Mulungushi Convention Centre in Lusaka on Saturday, Hichilema said even though the blocks are in different regions, challenges on conflict affect the nations equally.
President Dr Lazarus Chakwera attended the meeting.
“We may be working in different regions, but our challenges on conflicts are the same; we must work together to defeat conflicts and unrest in the world.
“We must look at challenges faced by one nation and block as for us all and together we must unite to defeat conflicts in our respective regions,” he said.
SADC Executive Secretary, Ellias Magosi, appealed for more humanitarian support to conflicting regions particularly in eastern DRC disclosing that in his recent visit to the region, he witnessed women and children needing support.
“While we are forever grateful to countries contributing their missions to various conflicting site in our region, I am specifically appealing that we also scale up on humanitarian aid going to civilians in these conflict zones.
“In my recent visit to the conflict zone in eastern DRC, I saw many people, most of them women and children in dire need of more support; we need to balance all interventions by sending both military support and humanitarian support,” he said.
The meeting was concluded with Magosi delivering a communique on some of the issues the states deliberated on.
Aside Chakwera, other heads of state present at the meeting were: Joao Lourenco of the Republic of Angola who is also SADC Chairperson, Felipe Nyusi of Mozambique, Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe, Felix Tshisekedi of DRC.
Meanwhile, President Chakwera has departed for Lilongwe.
Government disburses K6.5 billion to cooperatives from 13 districts
By Bishop Witmos
Mangochi, March 23, Mana: Minister of Agriculture, Sam Kawale has handed over cheques worth K6.5 billion to 41 cooperatives from 13 districts across the country in a bid to boost agri-businesses of the groups for increased productivity and vibrant export market.
This is under a World Bank supported initiative of the government flagship programme, Agricultural Commercialization (AGCOM) 2, which was launched by President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera in November last year, with an aim of transforming smallholder agriculture from mostly subsistence to commercial.
Speaking during the presentation of the cheques to the groups at Malembo in Senior Chief Nankumba's area in Mangochi on Friday, Kawale said he was excited to see that the agricultural transformation agenda, which is in the Malawi 2063 Agenda has started taking shape.
Kawale said that through AGCOM, government expects to graduate majority of farmers, who have, for so many years been practicing smallholder agriculture, without getting any tangible benefits.
‘‘The Vision 2063 clearly talks about agricultural mechanization, increase in productivity, as well as having a very vibrant export market and through empowering farmers with grants, we believe that help in reaching that goal,’’ he added.
‘‘Through AGCOM, we want to see that our farmers are transformed into commercial and that is why over K600 billion is going to be invested into cooperatives in the coming few years,’’ said Kawale.
Kawale added that through programmes like AGCOM as well as mega farms initiatives, Malawi will soon be food secure and will generate enough income.
National Project Coordinator for AGCOM, Dr. Ted Nakhumwa encouraged communities across the country to apply for the grant, by forming value addition groups of 20 members each.
Nakhumwa said that through AGCOM 1, which phased out last year, livelihoods of most farmers in the country have tremendously improved.
Before the handover ceremony, Kawale also toured Mlambe Irrigation Scheme, under the Greenbelt Authority, which is amongst the mega farm initiative, where government intends to do commercial irrigation farming of close to 800 hectares.
Kawale Commends Gala Macs Limited
By Gift Chiponde
Lilongwe, March 23, Mana: Minister of Agriculture Sam Kawale has commended Gala Macs for using advanced innovative approaches towards mega farm implementation in pursuit of achieving the Malawi 2063 vision.
He made the remarks on Wednesday when he toured the 2030 hectares of Gala Macs Macadamia Farm situated at Namitete in Lilongwe.
The Minister expressed satisfaction with Gala Macs for its use of improved agriculture systems, including irrigation, and crop processing systems at the farm, which he said are contributing to the progress of the agriculture sector.
“We all witnessed how agriculture activities are being conducted at the farm, starting from the Nursery to the farm and the processing systems, this truly indicates a strong dedication to agriculture investments by Gala Macs.
During the tour, it was revealed that the company is also producing liquid Bio fertilizer intended for Macadamia a development that Kawale described as agriculture modernization and is complementing the vision of President Dr Lazarus Chakwera of Agriculture, Tourism, and Mining (ATM) strategy.
He said Gala Macs which is also producing honey at the farm whose main aim is for pollination of macadamia trees and business purposes has trained 100 beekeepers and more are expected to be trained to manage 8000 bee hives at the farm.
“I am very impressed with how Gala Macs is using every opportunity at their disposal for the beekeeping business this is not a mean achievement for a local company like Gala Macs. The initiative will also add value to the company’s export earnings and maximise the country's honey production’ he said
In his remarks, Chief Executive Officer for Gala Macs Limited Christo Bothma said the company will continue working with government in achieving and solving forex problems through macadamia export.
Bothma commended the minister for the timely visit, saying it served as a platform for the company to address challenges it is facing in the macadamia business.
