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Farmers in Mchinji Praise Farmer Field Schools for Improving Crop Yields
Mchinji farmers laud Farmer Field Schools for improving crop yield through modern techniques-Moses Chilumpha.
Malawi-The arrival of farmer field schools (FFS), where they learned to use contemporary farming techniques to increase crop yield, is being lauded by farmers operating in various Extension Planning Areas (EPAs) in the Mchinji district, writes Moses Chilumpha.
Along with regular farmers, the schools have also enrolled young farmers, who are instructed in the agronomic procedures of various crops, taught how to compute gross margins based on the enterprise they have chosen, and encouraged them to use Village Savings and Loans groups to diversify their sources of income.
Five EPAs in Mchinji were established with assistance from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in collaboration with the government of Malawi and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). The third year of the four-year project has passed.
Flet Msulamoyo, a beneficiary at Kambudu Junior Farmer Field School, praises these modern innovations.
"We now know how to run farming as a business; we know new agricultural technologies and how to be financially independent through farming," she said.
Gift The group's patron, Mailosi, explains some of the things that go on at the field schools.
“We work together to farm, using seeds like beans, Irish potatoes, and onions, among others. We have training in raising livestock as well, and as a group, we decided to raise pigs. While we wait for the piglets to arrive, we have located land, and the community has made bricks available to build a contemporary pig kraal,” said Mailosi.
Mailosi claimed that during the two years that the farmers have been using the new techniques, they have experienced bumper harvests and higher profit margins than in the past.
Leah Chunga is an Agriculture Extension Development Coordinator for Mkanda EPA and she discloses that although there has been remarkable success in the impartation of skills, the project has suffered financial and material support and that a number of activities have not been done as planned.
"Extension workers' mobility to monitor progress in the farmer field schools has been paralysed by a lack of support for resources like fuel. Every three months, we submit plans and budgets, but we only receive about 30% of what we request, which is insufficient to carry out our planned activities,” she said.
However, she said that the project is beneficial for young farmers, the majority of whom are school dropouts who have had difficulty finding white-collar jobs.
According to Mthandi Kalongonda, the project coordinator for KOICA, farmer field schools assist rural farmers in learning and acquiring new farming skills as well as improving their decision-making abilities in light of the local climate.
The project includes 40 farmer field schools in Mchinji.
One of the implementing areas is Mkanda EPA, which has 11 FFS with teen mothers as members.
Like any other project, farmer field schools face difficulties along the way.
A few of these include late delivery of inputs to farmers, a lack of commitment on the part of members, and difficulties with mobility on the part of extension facilitators due to the location of some schools.