The Smallholder Crop Production and Marketing Project (SCPMPP) being implemented in 19 districts in the country has improved farmers’ lives, Minister of Irrigation and Water Development Ritchie Muheya has said.
According to Muheya, the specific objectives of the project have so far been met and many farmers have managed to increase their productivity and income.
“When government was starting the project a couple of years ago, we wanted to promote, intensify and diversify the existing cropping system. Having done that, our other goal was to improve the marketing system so as to significantly increase production, productivity and incomes of the small farmer while improving household nutrition and environmental management of natural resources at the same time,” he said.
Muheya said government is also supporting irrigation schemes through the use of treadle pumps, motorised pumps and gravity-fed technologies under the same project.
The project is co-financed by the Government of Malawi and the African Development Bank (AfDB). Malawi is contributing $2.5 million (K625 million) and AfDB $21.6 million (K5.4 billion).
Farmers are supposed to contribute to $72 250 (K1.8 million) in form of labour input and other locallyavailable materials needed for scheme development.
