Malawi plead with buyers to offer farmers better prices

Malawi’s Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development has asked people who buy farm produce from small-scale farmers to offer fair prices.

Deputy senior director in the ministry, Hamis Twabi, said this on Thursday during a field-day of the Upper-Mgulula Irrigation Scheme in Thyolo.

The project is one of the schemes under the Rural Infrastructure Development Programme (Ridp).

Twabi’s remarks came after one of the farmers at the scheme revealed that they sell cabbage to some buyers at as low as K100 per head.

“K100 is too low if we consider the cost of production. The same cabbage is sold at over K400 in various markets. We want to see farmers making profits and motivated to grow more crops. Farmers should not think buyers can prefer giving them very good prices, they should always negotiate and ensure they are making high profit,” said Twabi.

He, however, said he is impressed with efforts by most farmers towards irrigation farming.

“My office is now convinced that through the Ridp, most farmers are benefiting from the programme and are able to harvest twice or thrice a year making them food self-sufficient,” he said.

Nonetheless, the field-day exposed that lack of training and loans affects the success of farmers at the scheme as they lack technical expertise, modern equipment and chemicals to achieve high yields. Lack of funds is also keeping idle about 12 hectares of the land because the scheme is failing to construct cement canals to carry water to the area.

Ridp Small-scale Irrigation Infrastructure manager Rose Bell said she was impressed by the quality of farming practised by the farmers at the scheme and said her office will help the farmers with training and a revolving fund to help them improve their activities.