THE NATION
Tuesday, February 27, 2017
NASFAM empowering smallholder farmers with
agribusiness skills the case of Lewis Kamchacha
A
s the huge red ball
glistening sun sets up in
the horizon, announcing
a new promising day, Lewis is
already outside his small round
hut. He is greeted by his two
dogs wagging their little thin
tails while backing and yawning
in anticipation of another
hot summer day. Contesting
the dogs are the melodious
calls and songs from small
innocent birds perching on the
remaining trees in the scattered
bushes around his small village
compound.
Patseni, Thyolani, lets go,
Lewis calls his dogs inviting
to follow him as he walks to
the garden. His wife Malita,
appears from the bushes
while balancing on her head
a thirty-litre bucket of water.
Wash your face first of all and
wait while I organize myself,
calls Malita entreating her
Dziko
husband to repeat the early
morning chore. Where is the
water, bring it here and hurry,
the sun will soon be hot in the
Lathu!
skies,retorts to the call like one
with an unquenched hangover.
In a few minutes the wife
reappears nestling a baby while
balancing on her head a large
Nthaka
basket containing a variety of
parcels; food, water and some
seed. Lewis leads the way, with
Patseni and Thyolani jumping
yathu!
all over him. This is their 30th
day tilling their small piece of
land where they will grow some
maize, ground nuts, beans and
sweet potatoes. Their life is a
type of the Malawian peasant
who the government and NGOs
call a smallholder farmer.
For decades, Lewis
Kamchacha, 42 from
Zilimnthaka Farmers Club in
Mchinji District, 120 kilometres
west of Malawis Capital,
Lilongwe has been making a
living on his small piece of land.
He works hard to achieve a
level of agricultural output that
is enough to feed his family and
to sell whatever surplus that is
left for a more comfortable level
of living. However, every year his
achievement never rises above
the so called poverty line which
in October 2015, the World
Bank updated to US$1.90 a
day.
With his family growing, the
size of the land is not adequate
and of the required quality to
produce the output needed for
consumption. But whatever
happens, using the familys
labour force, Lewis and his
wife needs to produce more
than this amount in order to
acquire other basic necessities
such as clothes, hut, lighting,
and school fees for secondary
school - going children, school
uniform for primary school -
going children and some money
to help with the production
process.
As a cultural prejudice,
Lewis like all the people in his
village believed that running
small scale businesses such as
owning a local grocery was the
only way one can successfully
earn enough money to improve
their livelihood. Smallholder
farmers only relied on maize,
tobacco and ground nuts as
For comments and feedback
their cash crops as far as
on this article, send email to farming was concerned. With
bmakwenda@nasfam.org meagre resources, produces
and proceeds derived from
farming were therefore only
enough to keep the family
together for a few months in
the year.
Lewis would dream of a
future with bumper yields that
would give him and his family
plenty food throughout the
year and some surplus to sell.
However, lack of information
on both strategic marketing
of crops and good agricultural
practices militated against
his will to yield more on his
small piece of land. He had no
ideal places where to sell his
crops apart from vendors who
would follow him at his place
of residence and giving him no
choice but to sell the harvested
crops at lower prices. I had
a feeling that a good market
where I could sell my produce
would give a better return and
improve my livelihood. However,
the problem was that I couldnt
get such a market, says Lewis.
The District Agricultural
Development Office (DADO)
was not able to provide an
agricultural extension officer in villages of Mchinji district
his area. If one was available
there would be too limited
resources to reach out and
make a positive impact in his
village. As a result, Lewis had
limited information of good and
modern agricultural practices
which also affected his ability to
produce quality agro-products.
Lack of information on good
agricultural practices and post-
harvest handling also affected
the way Lewis kept the harvest
in storage. This resulted in
great losses of harvested crops
which were usually destroyed by
rodents every year.
Lewis, the 42 year -
old farmer, required
Through the trainings in marketing, I have also
information on acquired skills on financial management. In the past
modern ways of
how he could keep I was very poor at managing my finances. As a result, I
his crops in storage was not able to go far with my farming business. Now
without damage.
According to I know how to balance the money I make as profit and
Lewis, there wasnt that which I invest in my farming business
much he could
have done as a
smallholder farmer to solve the
challenges he was facing. To
try to find a solution for some
of the challenges he faced in
marketing his commodities,
at times Lewis would carry his
crops using a bicycle and travel
a long distance to a government Farmers of Malawi (NASFAM)
market place, the Agricultural
Development and Marketing
Corporation(ADMARC)
which was only reliable and
convenient to those who lived
close to the trading centres.
To avoid making unintended
sales of large amounts of
crops to vendors, Lewis always
ensured that he had weighed
his crops to come up with a
suitable amount of Kilograms
which is equivalent for the
given price. Despite his efforts
to resolve the challenges he
was facing, Lewis continued
to experience problems in
marketing his agro-products.
When the National
Smallholder Farmers
Association of Malawi (NASFAM) He adds,The formation of the
came in with different initiatives clubs and farmer associations
and interventions, smallholder
farmers begun to rely on
farming as their primary source
of income. The people in the
now treat farming as a major
business entity and income
generating source, says Lewis
Kamchacha a 42-year-old
smallholder farmer who has
been operating under NASFAM
since 2012.
Before Lewis started
implementing interventions and
activities which were introduced 2.5 acres of land for farming
by non-governmental
organizations like NASFAM,
there were a number of factors
which affected his ability to do
well as a smallholder farmer.
In the year 2012, Lewis
decided to take a step forward
by seeking help from non-
governmental organizations. In
doing so he started by joining
clubs in which later farmer
ADVERTorial
associations were formed.
The National Smallholder
provided training in market
research and farm business
entrepreneurship. According
to the 42 year old smallholder
farmer, not only did NASFAM
take initiative in providing
trainings to farmers, but it also
provided a reliable market
where farmers could sell their
harvest. Above all, when we
go to the market we know what
our produce is worth, so we
determine the price or bargain,
says the jovial and confident
Lewis.
NASFAM also links me and
the other members to other
stakeholders/organizations
that provide reliable markets
for agro-products,said Lewis.
by NASFAM provided me
and the other farmers an
opportunity allowing us to sell
our crop harvest collectively.
Lewis has been selling his
crops collectively through
associations close to 3 years
now.
For a smallholder farmer,
with the help of NASFAM and
other similar organisations,
Lewis has achieved quite a lot,
perhaps beyond expectation.
In the year 2013 Lewis bought
from the profits of the farming
business. He also invested
some of the profited income of
that years crop harvest into a
small scale business where he
now sells bicycle spare parts.
In the year 2014 Lewis also
managed to buy more farm
inputs like fertilizer which he
applied in all his cultivated
crops.
At the end of 2014-15 rain
fed cropping season Lewis used
some of the money he profited
from the farming business to
buy a diesel electric generator
and a small public addresser
which is now hired by people
in his village for weddings and
other social gatherings.
In 2015 Lewis bought an
oxcart which he now uses for
transporting his crops from the
farm to his house for storage.
In the same year he also built
a house with burnt bricks in
which him and his family now
stays. From the crop harvest for
the 2015-16 rain fed cropping
season he also acquired a
motor cycle which is one of the
things he desired for a long
time.
Lewis is very confident of
his familys wellbeing and
improvement of their childrens
livelihood. Lewis has one
wife and 2 children. Both his
children are in school and he
provides them with everything
they need for their education
through the money he makes
from farming through the
new farming practices and
interventions by NASFAM. The
42 year - old farmer is confident
of paying for secondary level
education for his children who
are now still in primary school.
Despite the rapid change
and positive developments
in Lewiss life and familys
wellbeing, he continues to
explain some of the things
he has benefited from the
interventions brought in by
NASFAM.
Through the trainings in
marketing, I have also acquired
skills on financial management.
In the past I was very poor
at managing my finances. As
a result, I was not able to go
far with my farming business.
Now I know how to balance the
money I make as profit and that
which I invest in my farming
business, says Lewis proudly.
With a beam of confidence
Lewis Kamchacha said the
intervention will not only be
beneficial to smallholder
farmers for a short period of
time. Some of the interventions
NASFAM has put in action are a
means to provide independency
to smallholder farmers for a
long run. Kamchacha believes
that in the future farmers will no
longer depend on organizations
to market their agro-products.
With the experience and the
skills acquired Kamchacha said
smallholder farmers now have
the ability to market their agro-
products through research and
powerful skills of negotiating
with stakeholders including
buyers, agro-dealers and
transporters.
Through the multi-
stakeholder partnerships, the
office of agriculture, NASFAM
and other organizations
are working hand in hand
to ensure farmers in the
villages of Mchinji District
are benefiting from farming
to improve their livelihoods.
Lewis Kamchacha is now a full
time member of the National
Association of Smallholder
Farmers of Malawi (NASFAM)
and has been given a huge
responsibility in which he
became a role model and an
agricultural practices advisor
from that of farmer to farmer. n