The Church’s Action in Relief and Development (CARD) says the shortage of food in the households has affected pig feeding in the project it was implementing in the Dowa district as communities are eating maize bran, which is the main feed for pigs.
The CARD has been implementing the Promoting agro-ecology Transition for Enhanced Resilient Agriculture in Malawi (PAETERA) project targeting areas of two traditional authorities, Msakambewa and Mponela, in the Dowa district from August 2021-September, 2024.
In the area of Traditional Authority Msakambewa, the project targeted 625 farmers under GVH Kafanikhale, Nachisaka EPA and Mponela under GVH Mkuziwaduka, Mponela EPA where 350 farmers were targeted.
Presenting the project to the District executive committee (Dec) in Dowa, CARD’s Project Officer Chifundo Macheka, said the project was implemented with an overall objective of improving smallholder farmer productivity for food, nutrition and income security through diversified livelihoods.
Macheka said some of the activities of the project included mounting demonstrations on manure and Mbeya fertilizer making, conducting awareness meetings on agro-forestry and natural resources management, establishing tree nurseries and procuring inputs to the project beneficiaries.
She said in the project; there was increased cross-learning and sharing among key players in agroecological farming, and information from the project contributed to the growth of knowledge, advocacy and scaling up through collaborative research, among others.
The officer said the project has learnt that implementing activities with government stakeholders brings sustainability, ownership and empowerment to all, full involvement of participants in the project, collaborative efforts with different stakeholders and transparency on issues of project funding creating a good working relationship with stakeholders.
However, Macheka said the project met some challenges in the course of implementation, such as the rising number of fall armyworms, scarcity of fuel in the country, flooding in some parts of project implementation areas and the unwillingness of some beneficiaries to pass on pigs to other beneficiaries.
“There is an unstable market on the ground, too, affected the beneficiaries of the project,” said Macheka.
In his remarks, Acting Chief Planning Officer for Dowa District Council Yusuf Laki advised partners to always share the progress of their projects with the secretariat as well as sign Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) with the council and CSO Network to enhance cooperation, transparency and accountability.
