Mzimba Prison Fights Hunger with Revitalized Farms

Malawi: Haunted by the hunger crisis that hit some of Malawi's penitentiaries in 2022, causing scores of prisoners to go without food, the authorities in Mzimba have taken action to make the prison self-reliant and bid farewell to hunger, writes Alinafe Sambo.

The Mzimba Prison has secured 500 hectares of farmland in Kamwanjiwa, Mzimba district, and for the 2023–2024 farming season, they have cultivated 20 hectares, where they are growing a variety of crops such as maize, soya, beans, sunflowers, and cowpeas.

The farm is expected to feed over 1,000 inmates.

"Our objective in setting up this farm is to help the government end food shortages in prisons," said Inspector Adson Chikapa, Field Officer for Kamwanjiwa Farm.

"There have been cases where inmates have gone days without having food. The farm will also be helping us train our inmates in different things like farming. Government always provides funding, but we want to supplement that."

According to Chikapa, being a prison, they house people of different types, and they can't rely solely on government subventions for food.

"We have always relied on the government and some donors for food in our prison, but after seeing the problems of prisoners going hungry, we thought it wise to have this farm. The farm at Kamwanjiwa is going to help us a lot."

The initiative by Mzimba Prison has received praise from social commentator Wonder Mkhutche and Centre for Human Rights and Education Advice (CHREAA) Executive Director Victor Mhango.

Mkhutche said, "What Mzimba Prison has done is very much commendable because they will be able to realize their own food and they will be able to sell some of the produce and use the money in some other things."

Mhango added, "What Mzimba Prison has done is a commendable job. This will ensure no prisoner starves due to a lack of food in our prisons. Government funding is always not enough, that's why some of Malawi's prisons experienced food shortages. So we believe having its own farm will make the prison self-reliant in terms of food."

Mhango urged other prisons to follow the example of Mzimba Prison by setting up their own farms.

"Rights of prisoners are violated when they go days without food," he said. "Having its own farm will make the prison self-reliant in terms of food."

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