Malawi’s M'bande communities smile at bumper harvests through irrigation

By: Steve Chirombo

Communities under M'bande village in the area of Traditional Authority Maseya in Chikwawa district, in Malawi, have hailed the well-coordinated irrigation programme saying it has helped them to show dry spells an exit door. Doing their agricultural activities under the famous M'bande Irrigation Scheme with the use of organic manure, the 186 farmers have for the past years before 2017 relied on rain-fed agriculture on their 20 hectares situated to the far west of Bereu Trading Centre in the district.

"We started irrigating our crops in March 2017 but before that, we relied on rain-fed agriculture which did not do us well looking at the dry spells our area experienced almost each and every year. "It was a hard time for all of us to make it through because we could only cultivate once in a year. And our harvests were not enough to cater for a good period and many times we stayed without harvesting anything," said Bertha Malefula, community member. She said that in 2017 March, they started irrigation farming having approached Christian Aid who gave a positive node to their call.

Shire Valley Online-SVO-News understands that the water supply from the solar-powered pump which Christian Aid donated to them, does not supply to the whole 20 hectares of land. We currently supply water to 5 hectares and the other part of the land is just idle. However, we managed to accommodate all the farmers in it. I can assure you that each farmer goes home with at least 4 bags of 50 kilograms of maize after each harvest. "We cultivate three times a year which makes every household have enough food throughout," she stated.

Secretary of the scheme, Dezzy Watson, told Shire Valley Online-SVO-News that they also considered agriculture as business as other crops such as tomato and onions are also grown within the scheme. "The times when we used to run out of food and buying from markets are over! We have enough food throughout the year. The money that we used to spend on buying food, is now used for other things to benefit our homes. "Many people have animals in their homes because they have enough food," indicated Watson.

Within the scheme, about 25 women came together and formed Namatope Cooperative which has a small piece of land it uses to produce other cash crops whose money goes into their Village bank Savings and Loans (VSLs). The women said in one voice that all they want is an independent life. "Hunger had indeed hit us hard but that is history now. We want to extend this gesture to other areas in Chikwawa district. I would also like to urge other people doing similar interventions to value coordination. We are where we are today because of coordination. We have big dreams and we will make it there," added Mayende Fabiano, M'bande Irrigation Scheme, Chairperson