A three-year project implemented by Good Neighbours Malawi in the central region district of Kasungu has paid beneficiaries dividend as they have seen their income at household level increasing by 54 percent.
The project, titled ‘Sustainable income generation project through conservation agriculture in Malawi’ has been under implementation since January 2018 and is expected to wind up on December 31, 2020.The project had 455 direct beneficiaries and 2,275 indirect beneficiaries.
The K1 billion worth of project has over the years been implemented with financial support from Korea International Cooperation Agency (Koica) as a donor agency.
Reviewing the project, Koica project manager Daniel Noh said their project has aided in enhancing household incomes among beneficiaries from K337,920in 2018 to K520, 625 in 2020, representing a 54 percent jump.
Noh also said as one of the project outcome, maize production has also increased per half an acre from K228 kilograms (Kg) to 606 kg, representing a 115 percent increase between the three year implementation period.
“The background to our project is that we noted that a reduction of household income due to lack of market accessibility in Kasungu farms,To make matters worse, poverty rate of Kasungu is 44.9 percent which is higher than that of Lilongwe at 37.5 percent and most people depend on maize farming.But as climate has changed rapidly, maize
production is decreased and it leads to the number of affected
population increase,” said Noh.
One of the beneficries of the project Ezekiel Gondwe from Traditional Authority (T/A) Chilowamatambe, who is also a secretary general for Chambwe cooperative in the district, thanked Good Neighbours Malawi for the
support which he said has helped his household improve its welfare within a three-year span.
“As farmers under Chambwe Cooperative, we are making more profit if we sell our crops as a cooperative.Previously, we were selling our grains individualy.This has seen our families making more profits out of farming over the past years we have been supported by Good Neighbours Malawi.” Said Gondwe.
The main objective of the project was to enhance agricultural
production capacity by supporting farm inputs (fertilizer and seed) and installing solar irrigation technology, organise sustainable agricultural environment by recovering soil fertility, as well as increase bargaining power among beneficiary farmers to sale their produce at fair prices.
