Empowering communities to purchase farm inputs

It has been difficult for Deliwe Mvula of Chiputa Mvula in Mzimba District to produce food without applying chemical fertilizers.

Mvula says the situation made her seven-member household experience perennial hunger as her barren fields failed to yield bumper crops.

“We could do all necessary farming activities only to be let down by the failure to buy fertilisers because we were too poor to afford even a bag,” says the mother of five in Inkosi Mzukuzuku Area.

To improve low-income subsistent farmers’ access to fertilizers and improved seeds, the Malawi Government introduced the Farm Input Subsidy Programme (Fisp) in the 2005/06 growing season.

Like most needy Malawians, Mvula rarely benefits from the programme since its inception, more so this year because she is a beneficiary of one of the three government social protection programs. In these programs that target the extremely poor, a household can only benefit from one of the three programs.

The 55-year-old woman has been getting three bags of maize from a half-acre field that only serves her household for two months.

In 2023, she was considered for the government’s safety net programme; the Climate Smart Enhanced Public Works Programme (CS-EPWP) where ultra-poor households with labour are engaged in land and water conservation activities in Chiputa Catchment Area.

She received K28, 800 after doing the work for 24 days.

To improve financial literacy and economic empowerment, Mvula and other 33 participants were introduced to COMSIP Cooperative Union Limited livelihoods clusters.

They formed the Greenlight Comsip Cluster where members have been saving earnings and accessing soft loans to live their entrepreneurial dreams.

Mvula says her life has improved for the better courtesy of the cluster.

“I have been borrowing money from the cluster for various small-scale businesses that have increased my family’s income and we get our needs easily,” she says.

Another member, Mary Banda, says the initiative has made her to still be productive in her old age.

The 75-year-old woman says the cluster allowed her to boost her cassava business.

“I got a loan of K50 000 from the group and invested in cassava. The yields have been increasing that I have money and food,” she says.

COMSIP is implementing a Livelihoods Support Program, a sub-component of the Social Support for Resilient Livelihoods Project (SSRLP) with cash plus interventions aimed at eliminating poverty among beneficiaries of the government’s safety nets funded by the World Bank and the Multi-Donor Trust Fund through National Local Government Finance Committee (NLGFC).

The program targets 590 000 beneficiaries of which 64 000 are in the Social Cash Transfer program (SCTP) and about 471 000 are in CS-EPWP across the country.

Apart from enhancing the economic capacity of the members in clusters, COMSIP introduced a purposive savings product and encouraged beneficiaries to have purposive savings in order to buy fertilizers at commercial prices for this growing season.

Mvula says she does not regret not benefitting from the subsidy program this growing season.

“I don’t regret being left out from the State-funded program this year because I am no longer extremely poor. I saved money through the cluster’s purposive savings and I have bought five bags of fertilizers at K63 000 (Urea) and K67 000 (NPK), respectively,” she brags.

Banda is happy the savings have made her responsible for her food production.

“I am at peace knowing I have bought two bags of fertiliser and seeds, and there is nothing stopping me from producing more,” she says

As of last week, a 41-member Chankhalamu Cluster in Mugabe Zoche Village in T/A Mpherembe has bought over 50 bags of fertilisers.

The cluster’s chairperson, Baxter Malinga, says they are leaving no stone unturned to achieve food security.

“By the time the rains start, every member will have two bags of fertilisers enough to grow food for their households,” he says.

Alex Mulenga of Nakamugudule Cluster in Chitipa District says the move has changed their mindsets for the better.

“We are becoming productive in all aspects of our lives. We want to produce more for food and nutrition security,” he says.

Lusekero Cluster’s facilitator Matilda Singogo says it was easy to raise the money for farm inputs as it has become normal for them to save and invest.

“This gives us a chance to do farming as a business because we are assured of producing more than enough for our families,” she says.

Inkosi Mzukuzuku says the initiative has made his subjects self-reliant.

“They are economically active in the COMSIP clusters and it is exciting to see them funding their own food efforts like buying chemical fertilizers and seeds,” he says.

Chitipa District Council community development officer Haddy Mulenga commends COMSIP for complementing their efforts to improve the lives of the people in the district.

COMSIP Development Communication Officer Mercy Kayuni says they are pleased that their interventions are empowering ordinary Malawians to have better lives and that beneficiaries of Social Cash transfer and public works programs who are classified as ultra-poor are able to save and invest their money and afford to purchase farm inputs at commercial prices.

Despite thousands of COMSIP cluster members having bought the fertilizers, Kayuni fears that the devaluation of the local currency by 44 percent may deny those who are still growing their money the opportunity to buy theirs.

She says: “This initiative went well and we witnessed thousands being able to purchase fertilizer at commercial price countrywide. However, some were still putting their funds together to make the purchase. Now with the devaluation, and the increase of price of a bag of fertilizer from 65, 000 to 90, 000 we fear that some of those that are still growing their money for this purpose will not be able to purchase the fertilizer as they had planned.”