Wala for intensified agricultural fairs
Wellness and Agriculture for Life Advancement (Wala) says it will intensify agricultural fairs to help farmers find existing markets for their produce.
Speaking at Nchalo in Chikhwawa last week during an agricultural market fair, Wala agribusiness technical quality coordinator Sebastian Wanjalasaid the fairs help to connect farmers with buyers apart from equipping them with modern farming techniques.
“During these fairs, we invite established farming and agricultural firms including money lending institutions. We have had several of these fairs and farmers have found markets for their produce as well as doing personal savings on top of getting equipped with modern farming techniques,” he said.
Wanjala hailed the role agricultural fairs play in building capacity for the farmers since farming cooperatives from different zones interact and share ideas on how to make their agribusinesses more lucrative.
“Such fairs help a lot in building capacity for our farmers as they give them an opportunity to interact with their fellow farmers and share ideas on how to make their farming businesses more profitable,” he said.
Wanjala then encouraged farmers in the zones that Wala operates to embrace the village banking programme to transform their lives.
“Currently we have more than 6 000 operational village savings and loans (VSL) groups in operation translating into $1.5 million [K592 million] of cumulative savings. So, I encourage farmers in our zones to take up village savings to improve their livelihoods,” he said.
Mac Donald Siyileni, a cooperative farmer from Mwalija Village, Traditional Authority (T/A) Kasisi in Chikhwawa, applauded Wala for the agricultural fairs describing them as productive.
“I find the fairs very productive as they help us interact and exchange contacts with buyers so that we don’t have problems in selling our produce,” he said.
The fair held under the theme, ‘Market-led production for sustainable business development’, attracted representation from established agricultural firms as Auction Holdings Limited (AHL) and banking institutions such as Opportunity International Bank of Malawi (OIBM).
Wala is a five-year integrated food security programme with an aim of reducing food insecurity for over 200 000 chronically food insecure households in 39 villages in eight districts of southern Malawi by 2014.
