Norway commends Nasfam’s walk with KA rice growers
Norwegian Ambassador Kikkan Haugen has praised National Smallholder Farmers Association of Malawi (Nasfam) for its inroads towards ensuring that rice growers benefit from their toils.
Haugen, who has been in the country since September last year, on Tuesday made his maiden trip to Karonga where he met members of Kaporo Smallholder Farmers Association (Kasfa), which is affiliated to Nasfam to minimise unnecessary losses when producing and marketing the grain.
At Ntchowo Primary School in the rice fields of Karonga North, the growers called for sustainable ways to overcome effects of climate change, poor access to dependable markets and lapses in extension services—the reasons the majority languish in poverty despite harvesting twice a year.
Two weeks ago, Minister of Industry and Trade Joseph Mwanamvekha confirmed the ruinous effects of lingering marketing gaps Nasfam and Kasfa are striving to close.
Lack of markets mean both growers and the country are losing loads to traders who buy the high-demand commodity at a cheaper price and smuggle it to neighbouring countries.
About 15 years ago, Kasfa founders envisaged the union reversing the trend by propagating modern farming technologies through a farmer-to-farmer approach and increasing profits by identifying gainful markets and insisting on collective bargaining.
With about 7 000 members—up from less than 1 000 at its inception in 2001—Kasfa has built an office complex, warehouse and rice mill with contributions from the membership as well as donations from Danish Development Aid (Danida).
In an interview, Haugen said he was impressed with the inroads the associations were making and pledged his country’s continued support to agriculture through Nasfam.
“When farmers are organised, it is easy for them to break the chains of poverty and bargain for better prices when buying farm inputs and selling their harvest,” he said.
Haugen has singled out Malawi as a focal point for long-term support, arguing that the agricultural sector is vital in helping the majority of Malawians in their struggle against poverty.
Nasfam operations manager Henry Kalomba said there is no reason a Malawian farmer should continue being impoverished by unscrupulous traders when the demand for rice, especially Kilombero is fast-rising.
“Presently, the annual demand for Kilombero hovers between 250 000 and 300 000 metric tonnes and we are working hard to ensure the farmers benefit from this good news by giving them reliable markets,” he said.
Last year, Nasfam bought truckloads of rice at K165 per kilogramme (kg), with an extra K5 being commission to Kasfa and K3 bonus for members.
This enabled Kasfa to make a profit of K14 million, up from about K3 million the previous year, according to Kasfa board chairperson George Mwafulirwa, who said the group plans to buy a new mill and construct more warehouses if the upward spiral continues.
