Farmers hail the Transforming Agriculture Through Diversification and Entrepreneurship(TRADE) programme
The farming communities under the Transforming Agriculture Through Diversification and Entrepreneurship(TRADE) programme have hailed the six year programme for building resilience and improving livelihoods of many households in their districts.
Representatives of the farming communities said this in Blantyre during the signing ceremony of the memorandum of understanding(MOU) between farmers and off takers.
According to farmers, the TRADE programme has facilitated access to domestic, regional and international markets of their products.
One of the beneficiaries of the programme AustinvGrant of the Chakala farmers club in Ntchisi district applauded the initiative for improving their lives through access to markets, boosting crop production and value chains for their products.
Grant said many of the beneficiaries have managed to transform their lives by building good houses, household items, paying school fees for their children and buying farming inputs among others using the proceeds from the programme.
” We are now able to do groundnuts seed multiplication and value add our products to fetch good markets apart from helping us getting some other additions for our daily livings,” he said
Grant said the programme has also helped the farmers club to get 83 metric tonnes of groundnuts last year and sealed a one year K60 million worth supply of goods contract with Kwithu Kitchen for the 2024 to
2025 season.
On her part, Mary Banda from Chechelele cooperative, said since joining the programme she has invested in village savings and loan groups as well as bought a multiple of livestock which has helped to support her household livelihoods.
However, the operations director for Food Kings Limited Vilenji Nkhwazi challenged the farmers on quality service delivery.
Nkhwazi said many farmers fail to get good markets for their products due to poor
According to the extension officer and commodity specialist for TRADE programme, Authur Ngwende, the memorandum of understanding (MOU) were meant to increase production, value additions and markets.
“We want to create a win-win farmer to buyer partnership whereby everyone should benefit from the deal,” he said
Ngwende said over the years farmers have been frustrated over the lack of markets, thereby contribute to low productivity and the country’s poor export earnings.
Ngwende said the TRADE programme has facilitated a seven farmer to buyer partnership contracts worth K480 million in total.
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