M’bande Village communities in Traditional Authority Maseya in Chikwawa can now afford a smile after realising bumper harvest from the irrigation farming they are undertaking in their area.
Doing their agricultural activities under M’bande Irrigation Scheme using organic manure, the 186 farmers have, for the past years before 2017, relied on rain-fed agriculture on the 20- hectare land situated to the west of Bereu Trading Centre in the district.
“We started irrigating our crops in March, 2017 but before that we relied on rain-fed agriculture which did not help us much looking at the dry spells our area experience almost each and every year.
“It was a hard time for all of us to make it through because we could only cultivate once in a year.
“Our harvests were not enough to last the whole year and many times we could go empty without harvesting anything,” said Bertha Malefula, a community member.
Malefula said in March, 2017, they started irrigation farming having approached Christian Aid who gave a nod to their call.
During the visit to M’bande Irrigation Scheme on Saturday, Malawi News Agency (MANA) noted that water supply from the solar powered pump which Christian Aid donated was not adequate for the whole 20 hectares of land.
“We currently supply water to five hectares and the other part of land is just idle. However, we managed to accommodate all the farmers in it.
“I can assure you that each farmer goes home with at least four bags of 50 kilograms of maize after every harvest,” Malefula said.
“We cultivate three times a year which makes every household have enough food throughout the year,” she added.
Secretary for M’bande Irrigation Scheme, Dezzy Watson said the group also considers agriculture as business as other crops such as tomato and onions are also grown within the scheme.
“The time when we were running out of food and start buying is over; we have enough food throughout the period.
“The money that we used to buy food is now used for other things to benefit our homes. Many people have livestock in their homes because they have enough food,” Watson said.
“Hunger had indeed hit us hard but that is history. We want to extend this gesture to other areas in the district. I would like to urge other people doing similar interventions to value coordination.
“We are where we are today because of coordination. We have big dreams and we will obviously make it,” added M’bande Irrigation Scheme Chairperson, Mayende Fabiano.
Chikwawa District Council Agriculture, Gender Roles Extension and Support Services Officer, Madalitso Makondi said government supports the farmers at M’bande Irrigation Scheme with technical aspects regarding crop production in relation to climate smart agriculture.
“At the moment, the biggest challenge that the farmers are facing is securing reliable markets for their crop produce, especially the women operating as a cooperative,” Makondi said.
