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Fertiliser loans excite farmers

Grace Namaona, 67, has grown up farming to sustain her family.

For years, the woman, from Chafuta Village, Traditional Authority Mpenda in Thyolo District, has seen crop yields falling due to climate change and loss of soil fertility.

However, she can no longer afford fertiliser for her two-hectare field as prices have more than quadrupled since 2020.

“My field can produce enough grain to feed my family and surplus for sale, but fertiliser prices have flown beyond my reach,” she says.

Kunkuyu hands over Neef-funded fertiliser to a farmer at Chilangoma. | Barbara Kachinangwa

She fondly remembers “the good ole days” when we could get bumper yield with little or no fertiliser.

“The soils were fertile,” she says. “Now the fields are gullied and barren. Woe to the poor, for you cannot reap much without fertiliser, which now costs up to K115 000 a bag.

For a third year on the trot, Namaona was not among the one million needy Malawians selected to buy subsidized fertiliser under the State-funded Affordable Input Programme (AIP).

A 50 Kilogram bag of fertiliser costs K115 000 in her area, which is unaffordable for most hand-to-mouth farmers.

This leaves them uncertain of what the future holds for their yellowish crops.

“I was last shortlisted for subsidised fertiliser in 2021, which left me struggling to produce enough food for my family,” Namaona says.

Her household is among 5.7 million Malawians who require food aid, according to the Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee.

To improve her situation, Namaona has joined an irrigation farmers’ group in her area. Last year, they grew tomatoes and eggplants during winter, but the crops wilted as the river run dry due to drought that hit southern Malawi.

“The crops didn’t do well because of El Nino,” she says.

Through collective efforts, Tikondane Farmers Group, Namaona and her neighbours obtained a loan from the National Economic Empowerment Fund (Neef) to buy fertiliser.

Government has set aside K12 billion for Neef to give enterprising farmers farm input loans as an extended window to AIP.

Namaona was among the first 40 000 beneficiaries of the programme which has given her kind a lifeline to better harvests given good rains.

The programme targets about 400 000 farmers by April.

Namaona is optimistic to get a bumper yield having bought two bags of fertiliser repayable after harvesting.

“My group comprises eight farmers. Each received two bags of fertiliser which we are required to pay back within five months. This is convenient for us as we cannot afford bags worth K115 000 while struggling to buy food for our families.”

Stoneck Limbanga, 69, from Mponda Village, T/A Kapeni in Blantyre District, hopes the farm inputs loan will save her family from chronic hunger.

“Since last year, my club, which comprises nine members, has got 20 bags of fertiliser on loan,” says the father of four.

Through agriculture, Limbanga sustains his family and pays tuition for his second-born son, currently at a technical college.

“We received little rains last growing season, but we harvested 50 bags of maize weighing 50kg each. I sold some bags to pay school fees for my son who is studying plumbing and left enough for the rest of the family,” he says.

However, some farmers are concerned that the loans come two to three months in the rainy season, with most maize crops a knee-high or tasselling.

Alice Gomile, from Tanganyira Village in Blantyre, says the delay might affect crop harvests and loan repayments.

“The fertiliser has come in late, so our expected yields and income may also be affected,” she says.

In an interview, Neef executive director Humphrey Mdyetseni attributed the delay to hiccups in the supply chain and logistical challenges.

However, he said the fund remains committed to improving the country’s food security, with agriculture employing 80 percent of the country’s workforce.

Mdyetseni says the programme rolled out last year will continue providing farmers with flexible loans.

However, he encouraged borrowers to repay the loan soon after harvesting to sustain the programme.

Minister of Information and Digitisation Moses Kunkuyu, speaking at Chilangoma School in Blantyre, said government is committed to supporting farmers who he described as pivotal in achieving food security.

“We are equipping farmers who did not benefit from AIP with flexible agricultural loans in form of fertiliser and cash through Neef so that they can upscale their production to escape hunger,” said Kunkuyu.

According to the 2024 Global Hunger Index, Malawi is grappling with serious hunger affecting about 5.7 million people.

This comes amid widespread poverty, reliance on subsistence farming and vulnerability to climate shocks.

Kunkuyu hands over Neef-funded fertiliser to a farmer at Chilangoma. | Barbara Kachinangwa

Farmers need fertiliser to boost crop harvests.| Barbara Kachinangwa

Mdyetseni: The fund remains committed despite logistical hiccups. | Temwa Mhone

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