When potatoes transform communities

Wretched mud-walled and grass thatched houses have been a common sight in Chinkhande Village, Traditional Authority (T/A) Kalumo in Ntchisi. The village which is surrounded by rough hills, was a true reflection of the poverty levels in the district.

But that was a few years ago. During that time, children in the village had severe malnutrition. Farmers in the village focused on growing maize for both food and cash. They had no capital or land, and they lacked land and crop management skills which led to low production.

But today, Kalumo is among the fast developing areas in Ntchisi. Brick and iron sheet houses are being constructed in most villages, including Chinkhande.

In the morning, most men and women can be seen irrigating crops in their gardens. In one of the fields, 27-year-old Charles Mpotachamba from Chinkhande Village grows potato, a crop that has transformed many households in the area.

Mpotachamba is regarded as one of the most hardworking farmers in the district because of what he has accomplished, having cultivated Irish potato all year round in the past three years.

Like other emerging potato farmers in the area, the young farmer has constructed a modern house and farm storage rooms that are filled with potatoes even when the crop is not in season.

“This was my vision. Just a few years back, I could not take care of my family. Life was very tough,” says Mpotachamba, a father of two.

Another potato farmer, Jentala Njolomole, says he was also struggling to support his wife, five children and parents.

“Now I have enough food and have just moved out of my old hut into this better home,” says Njolomole, showing off his new house.

Other parts of the district such as in the areas of T/A Chikho and Vusojere are also undergoing the same change, thanks to interventions by government and development partners in promoting commercial farming.

One such government initiative, the Rural Livelihoods and Economic Enhancement Programme (Rleep), which is under the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, has been funding organisations that work with farmers in its efforts to improve rural lives.

“Before we received any support and training, we used to grow and harvest very few potatoes from a large area,” says Njolomole.

With support from Rleep, Njolomole and other farmers formed Chandumba Farmers Club.

“Through the club, we share knowledge on the right time to irrigate and apply fertiliser to our potatoes. We are also conversant with various modern farming techniques including a new system which helps us to select best seeds,” says Jeremiah Maduka, the club’s chairperson.

He commends the performance of a potato storage technique called diffused light store (DLS) system which is becoming popular in the district as it allows for the potatoes to be kept for longer without getting rotten.

Maduka says: “We learnt how to construct the DLS storage facilities and realised their significance. Now our potato seeds can be kept for many months without decaying and vendors can purchase fresh potatoes any time.”

He says before Rleep came along, most farmers used to harvest about 600 kilogrammes of potatoes from one acre.

“But now most of us get at least 1 500 kilogrammes of potatoes per acre and earn over K500 000,” he explains.

Rleep also works with smallholder potato growing farmers from Dedza, Mchinji, Kasungu, Blantyre and Thyolo.

The programme’s national director Dixon Ngwende says Rleep uses a value chain approach where challenges affecting the farmers are identified and addressed through service providers with grants in the Agricultural Commercialisation Fund (ACF).

“We target over 24 000 smallholder farmers and establish more efficient production, processing, transport and marketing systems for the commodities such as potatoes,” explains Ngwende.

Group Village Head (GVH) Maganga from T/A Tambala in Dedza explains how initiatives such as Rleep have reduced market challenges in her area.

“But we still need more reliable markets,” Maganga says, adding that she now lives in a good house and is able to support her children because of the boom in potato farming.

Sapenda Nyirenda, a field facilitator working with Concern Universal, one of Rleep’s service providers, says the communities are improving because farmers are able to grasp what they learn and use it appropriately.

“It is gratifying to see how smallholder farmers are taking farming as a profitable business,” he admits.