Lilongwe woman encourages others to utilise land

Aprominent businessperson in Lilongwe, Violet Savala, has encouraged more Malawians to transform degraded plots into green havens for producing food and fruits.

Savala, 61, was speaking to The Nation at her home, near Chitedze Research Station, some 16 kilometres west of Lilongwe City, on Monday afternoon.

A United Kingdom-trained fashion designer, the managing director of Bodymap Creations in Lilongwe has stunned many people with her fashion designs over the years.

She said: “After years of trying to achieve whatever successes in our work or businesses in cities and towns, it is imperative for us to ‘retire’ to a village setting to transform land into green havens for producing whatever food and fruits we need. That is real success in life!”

Her new stand comes after she decided to dump tobacco farming, where she was a successful and exemplary farmer in the area for many years. But became disappointed with plummeting tobacco prices in the recent past.

Savala showcased 15 000 lemon and pawpaw seedlings as part of her new ‘real green’ afforestation project.

Nearby, two new greenhouses had just been constructed and her 15 workers were busy planting trees and tending flower beds.

She pointed out that she is now committed to land husbandry because she learnt a lot from Egypt, where she attended a three-week workshop under the theme Empowering African Rural Women Through Micro-Credit.

Thanking the Egyptian Embassy in Lilongwe for giving her the opportunity to visit Egypt, Savala declared that the course also taught her how to mobilise needy women to access soft loans and utilise services being offered by government and private stakeholders. n