Persistent crop failure has taught Chipakuza villagers in Chikwawa that repeating farming methods that have been tried with little profit cannot suddenly bring extraordinary results.
The farming community under Traditional Authority (T/A) Lundu has switched from rain-fed agriculture to irrigation in the wake of hunger caused by uncertainties associated with climate change.
The rural population faces one disaster to another, especially drought and flooding.
However, many rue the loss and damage caused by Cyclone Freddy in March last year. The world’s longest-running cyclone dumped floods, mudslides and strong winds that affected over 2.2 million people in the Southern Region.
A year after the torrents and floods destroyed crops and buried fields in silt, the community was hit hard by drought caused by the El Nino weather pattern across southern Africa.
Lead farmer Matias Nyazi recalls the prolonged dry spell scorching maturing crops that were expected to end hunger caused by the devastating floods.
“We looked at the data and noticed that hunger was the common problem, so we agreed to embrace irrigation farming,” he says.
Njazi’s family of four is among 126 households that collectively rented farmland near a vast sugarcane plantation for irrigation in Nchalo Estate, Chikwawa.
Illovo Sugar (Malawi) plc irrigates the vast sugarcane fields throughout the dry season, an awakening for communities that rains are not everything crops need to flourish.
Unlike many farmers in Malawi, the villagers in the vicinity are reaping the benefits of irrigation amid unpredictable rains worsened by climate change.
The farmers take turns in the irrigated fields, with the first group cultivating from March to July and the second July to November.
Njazi pays K50 000 per season for a field half the size of a football ground, where he harvests 10 to 12 bags in winter. During the rainy season, he yields less than half the winter harvest.
The farmer hires a water pump worth K30 000 per cropping season to irrigate the plot where he applies two bags of fertiliser worth about K200 000.
“The cost of irrigation is much lower than buying 50 kilogrammes of maize at K45 000. At the current price, I need K450 000 for 10 bags,” he says.
Njazi also grows vegetables that earn him at least K10 000 a week.
“I use the money to meet the daily needs of my family and boost my farming business,” he says.
T/A Lundu’s drought-prone area is among communities where the Catholic Relief Service (CRS) is implementing a community driven data collection tool to improve food security and livelihoods amid climate change.
CRS co-designed the rapid feedback monitoring system (RFMS) with Cornell University and the National Statistics Office (NSO).
The technology, funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAid), captures real-time data in communities to inform decisions.
Every month, community-based enumerators collect information from selected households to understand how their livelihoods change throughout the year.
The data collectors share their findings with community members for collective learning, validation and decision-making. They also share the insights with government and development partners.
CRS plans to launch a dashboard where users can access essential information for every district and probably T/A at a click of a few buttons.
They envisage the tool putting vital indicators at the fingertip of anyone who wants them, streamlining community development interventions.
According to Group village head (GVH) Chipakuza, the findings have ranked food insecurity as a major concern for 92 percent of the households in the area.
“Based on the reports, as community leaders, we had to think of what we can do to end hunger. We met and identified this irrigated piece of land for communal use to sustain our families,” the traditional leader recalls.
The community also used the data to persuade development partners who constructed a dyke to prevent flooding, which disrupts schooling and livelihoods in the community.
“We use the same data to convince well-wishers to help us,” says GVH Chipakuza.
The data sheets with simplified visual aids to break down and illustrate the big numbers come in Chichewa, the widely spoken local language, for easy understanding.
Area Development Committee (ADC) vice-chairperson Evelyn Jonasi says the RFMS has made decision-making simple.
“When the ADC wants to present issues to the council or lobby for project funding, we use this data as our backing. With data, it has really become easy for the council and other development partners to assist our communities,” he states.
The World Bank rates RFMS highly as a cost- effective and reliable tool for capturing real-time data relating to poverty and climate change.
CRS trained 300 community-based enumerators who have been using smartphones to capture information from selected households since 2020.
The system uses machine learning to predict future outcomes such as households likely to be affected by flooding and areas that would recover quickly.
This paves the way for life-saving decisions, from effective planning and risk reduction to disaster response.
Njazi inspects his irrigated maize field.. | Suzgo Chitete
Chipakuza explains how Cyclone Freddy affected his community. | Suzgo Chitete
