Persistently hit by dry spells, Balaka district in the southern region of Malawi was again this year not spared from the phenomenon as is usually the case.
At the start of the rainy season, the Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services announced that Mangochi, Balaka and Machinga would experience the spells from January to March 2026.
According to a Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee (MVAC) report, four million people were at risk of food insecurity and in October last year, President Peter Mutharika declared a State of Disaster in 11 districts including Balaka.
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Tuweni Dayisoni indicated that in the past two years, it has been challenging for farmers in the district to buy fertiliser and expressed hoped that organisations would come to their rescue.
In this year’s farming season, she said no-one in Bwaila Ward received subsidized fertilizer; but the coming in of the Sustainable Agriculture Production Programme (SAPP II) has made a difference and if it wasn’t for the initiative, many could not afford to buy it at the prevailing market prices.
She expressed gratitude with the SAPP II intervention sponsored by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) which has made it possible for her to continue farming and appealed to authorities to ensure affordable fertiliser prices.
“Despite a reduction of maize prices in the country, the price of farm inputs remain high and unaffordable for most people at the price of K100,000 plus and it even gets to K2000, 000 on the market making it impossible for a farmer to buy.
“It will have been better if prices of farm inputs were reduced, as many will be able to afford the fertilizer as maize will be readily available and people could afford to have three meals a day”
Although the dry spells have affected her, the mother of six is hopeful that things will work out.
She dismissed any favouritism in the selection of beneficiaries insisting that the process was open and transparent adding there were no fraudulent practices as they purchased the commodity at the approved price.
Through farming, she managed to construct a house and if she gets a bumper harvest this year, she has plans of finishing it.
“The house is not fully done as I’m yet to put cement on the floor and if it goes according to plan and the rains are good, then it will be properly finished and I will also continue sending my children to school”
Despite being a farmer, she is also active in village banking groups which enabled her to buy fertiliser for a start.
Eliza Mbalazo from Nankhumba village Traditional Authority Kalembo in the district explained that if it were not for SAPP II, which enabled her to purchase two fertiliser bags redeemed at K10, 000 each and a 5 kg bag of seeds at zero cost, she couldnt afford to buy the commodity at its market price.
She bemoaned the dry spells which hit the district as having negatively affected her and said she expects not more than 10 bags on her one acre piece of land.
The mother of six hailed the advice from extension workers who encouraged her to grow drought-resistant crops and taught them to make manure on their own.
According to her, only those who duty bearers knew would make good use of the farm inputs were selected for the programme in Balaka.
“My appeal is for this programme to continue because our lives have changed and our hope is that we’ll do much better than this. There is also need to increase the number of beneficiaries to improve agriculture production”.
Another recipient Rose Misiyaje from Kusigala Village, Bazale Extension Planning Area (EPA) said with the SAPP intervention, she hopes to have a good harvest.
The mother of five children counted herself lucky saying she has never benefitted from such programmmes before and described the selection process for beneficiaries as fair and transparent without any elements of corruption.
“The process was done well without any obstacles this is why I have been able to receive the subsidized inputs because no corruption took place. Those chosen are the ones who could not afford to buy fertilizer on their own and after the names were announced, people agreed with the names which were picked.
“Its true Balaka district is usually hit by dry spells, and this year was no exception but because some people received the SAPP II fertiliser we expect good yields”