Mzimba farmers making millions, thanks to TRANSFORM Programme

Malawi: Farmers in the northern part of Mzimba district claim to be making huge profits of over K1 million from the sale of their farm produce.

This comes after a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) called Find Your Feet (FYF) equipped farmers with marketing skills as part of the TRANSFORM Program, allowing them to make more money after selling their farm harvest.

The NGO is implementing the TRANSFORM Programme in Mzimba North with the assistance of Norwegian Church Aid (NCA)/Danish Church Aid (DCA) Malawi, which is coordinating the programme in the country alongside its partners, the Development Fund of Norway and the Norwegian University of Life Sciences.

Engucwini Cooperative Marketing Chairperson, John Mlowoka, told journalists on Wednesday during a media tour organised by NCA/DCA to appreciate how farmers, particularly at Engucwini Extension Planing Area (EPA) in Mzimba north, have benefited from the TRANSFORM Programme.

"As farmers, we have learned a lot from the TRANSFORM Program, such as the importance of working in teams. For example, in the last farming season, I planted soya beans and earned over K1.4 million, part of which I used to buy additional land for farming and goats for livestock farming," Mlowoka explained.

Malumbo Chiumia, another farmer in Mzimba north who has made over K1 million this year through farming, praised the TRANSFORM Programme for transforming farmers into millionaires in Mzimba north.

"Through the TRANSFORM Programme, as farmers, we have been empowered with various skills, such as good packaging and grading techniques, as well as it has encouraged us to work in cooperative, and what we have been trained so far is helping us to make a lot of money after selling our farm products," Chiumia said.

She also stated that after selling her soya beans this year, she earned approximately K1.4 million, which she used to pay her child's school fees at Catholic University (CU), with the remainder invested in livestock and groundnut farming.

Chiumia, the Chairperson of Engucwini Cooperative, which has 305 members, also encouraged farmers throughout the country to join cooperatives, stating that cooperatives help farmers find better markets for their farm produce.

Aside from providing farmers with marketing skills at Engucwini EPA, FYF has established a farm field school in the Chankhalamu area of Mzimba North, where farmers are learning morden farming techniques.

FYF Field Officer Linda Chazama Kaunda stated in her remarks that the organization's wish through the TRANSFORM Program is to help farmers in Mzimba North thrive with their farming.

"We want the farmers to succeed in their farming so that their lives can be improved," she explained.