The Malawi government, through the Directorate of Rural Development, will expand the Transforming Agriculture Diversification Entrepreneurship programme (TRADE) to four new districts namely Mzimba, Chikwawa, Phalombe, Ntcheu and Dowa with a mandate to align it to Malawi’s vision 2063 specifically for Agriculture Commercialization and Productivity.
TRADE is a programme which falls directly under the Directorate of Rural Development, and the Ministry of Local Government, Unity and Culture, is the lead agency of the programme.
The programme is implemented through three interlinked components that support linkages between smallholder farmers and commodity actors, support investments in the enabling environment and strengthen institutional development to enhance knowledge management, capacity building of Local Government authorities and programme management.
Introducing the programme to the Dowa District executive committee, Director of Rural Development, Chrissy Chiumya said the programme will contribute to improved sustainable livelihoods of rural people in Malawi.
She said TRADE would expand in the third year to an additional 3-4 more commodities while dropping soya beans and groundnuts to an additional 3-4 new districts resulting in a geographical coverage of 14-15 districts out of the total of 28 districts that the country has by using a specific set of criteria.
She revealed that the TRADE Programme is targeting 127,000 households and has not apportioned any particular number to the districts, saying this will depend on the people who are involved in that particular commodity being promoted in that district.
Chiumya said this is an opportunity for the people of Dowa to benefit closely from the TRADE Programme through its interventions, saying the number of people that are engaged in the production of the commodity will determine the number of beneficiaries in the district.
“This is a lot of work and will require significant collaboration from all stakeholders,” said Chiumya.
Responding to suggestions of swapping Nambuma with Chakhaza E.P.A in the Dowa district, she said that the Ministry of Local Government is promoting decentralization in Councils so that views from people on the ground are respected.
Chiumya said involving the community in decision-making makes the project being implemented sustainable to enable the project to continue by the people on the ground even if it has phased out.
She said the project is going to change the lives of the poor people as it is targeting the ultra-poor with a specific focus on youth and women, and it will help farmers to get more from productivity, production, and value addition through access to good markets.
She expressed her sincere hope that the identified districts, through their respective Council, will embrace the opportunity and use it effectively to ensure that people have good roads, bridges, storage facilities, farm machinery and different processing plants for their improved livelihoods.
