Machinga ADD moves to restore soil fertility

Machinga Agricultural Development Division (ADD) has embarked on initiatives to restore soil fertility to improve crop productivity in Machinga District.

Speaking during the launch of Catchment Conservation and Management in Traditional Authority Nkula in the district, Machinga ADD chief agriculture extension officer Alan Kaliwo said the country is losing an average of 29 metric tonnes (MT) of land per hectare every year due to land degradation resulting from poor methods of farming and deforestation.

He said the situation has negatively affected crop production in the country.

Kaliwo, however, commended the Malawi Watershed Services Project (Mwasip) for implementing initiatives to address land degradation.

“It is our wish that we should try our best to reduce land degradation maybe to 10MT per hectare across the country. But we can achieve this if we work together,” he said.

Machinga district Mwasip coordinator Martin Namaona said the project is committed to supporting the district with conservation measures as it has allocated K72 million for procuring farm inputs and tools for farmers under Lisanjala Catchment Area.

“We will continue with conservation measures until 2026, and today is just a reminder that we should conserve the environment,” he said.

Namaona said they established a community conservation fund for people to borrow for businesses to stop selling charcoal.

One of the farmers from Nthipo Village, Ester Bwanali said the project helped her to buy farm inputs.

Traditional Authority Nkula said he was optimistic that the project will benefit many people in his area.