FUM,ETC Sign farm mechanisation deal

Farmers Union of Malawi (FUM)has sealed a deal which gives farmers’ cooperatives to own tractors manufactured by Mahindra.

FUM president Alfred Kapichira-Banda and Export Trading Company (ETG) Agro Tractors sales engineer Peter Maluku announced the deal on Wednesday at Euthini, Mzimba North.

The two say the arrangement, in which the strategic dealers of Mahindra tractors gives farmers the ease to pay 50 percent of the quoted price upfront and the remaining instalments in two growing seasons, has been under negotiation for nearly a year.

Having completed the agreement, the FUM leader said: “For a Malawian farmer, the celebrated Golden Jubilee of Independence marks 50 years of hoeing—a pity, a huge setback to commercial farming. Mechanisation is the way to go for those who want to increase their yield and lessen the workload.”

Kapichira-Banda, however, stressed that the bargain was more the reason farmers have to come together and form cooperatives—for unity buoys access to better markets and cheaper inputs, including equipment.

In an interview, Maluku said the initiative was part of Mahindra’s efforts of empowering Malawian farmers to eradicate poverty through mechanised agriculture.

“In line with our mission of transforming agriculture mechanisation in Africa, ETC believes Malawian farmers have the potential to embrace mechanisation, but they have been subjected to centuries of using hoes because manufacturers and dealers of farm machines have been reluctant to offer deals that suit the local situation like the one just unveiled,” he said.

ETC Agro Tractors is a subsidiary of Export Trading Group (ETG) which buys various farm produce across the country.

During the consultation, farmers in the rural setting expressed interest to buy up to four tractors, saying they are already members of existing cooperatives and harbour burning eagerness to upgrade to technologies that enable them to do more, better and faster than relying on hoes.

Tractors are credited with doing 100 times more work than a human being does in a specified duration.