Organic fertiliser turns the tide for local farmers

UPROOTING WEEDS—Manyonde By By Emmanuel Chilemba: For Thauzeni Manyonde, a lead farmer from Traditional Authority (TA) Chapananga in Chikwawa District, a sharp rise in the price of fertiliser has put the soil nutrient out of reach, with a 50 kilogramme (kg) bag now averaging over K150,000 on the market. Manyonde said to make matters worse, the Shire Valley district's vulnerability to recurring climatic shocks, including prolonged dry spells and floods, continues to make crop production a heavy gamble. "For decades, significant cross-cutting hurdles, including limited access to farm inputs under subsidy programmes, have slashed our crop yields, putting most households on the brink of hunger," Manyonde indicates. Standing in his maize field while guarding the crop, he says for households that depend on farming for a living, it has been a nightmare as they struggle to make ends meet. Ironically, it is the month of August, when farmers would ordinarily be preparing land for the new season, yet his field is already flourishing with green maize, with tassels at the top waving in the wind. "I planted this maize just two months ago and I'm planning to plant again soon after harvesting. In a few weeks, it will be ready for the market as we often sell fresh green maize. "The drastic turn came when I started applying Mbeya organic fertiliser, which is proving to be a game changer, given its affordability, unlike chemical fertiliser, which is expensive," he said. Practically, a farmer needs the following ingredients to produce a 50-kg bag of the homegrown soil nutrient: 21kg of maize bran, 10kg of ash, 10kg of livestock dung, 10kg of inorganic fertiliser either NPK or urea and 5 litres of water. The mixture is left for 21 days to ferment, in readiness for the organic manure's use in crop production. "Using these proportions, a 50-kilogramme bag of chemical fertiliser makes five more 50-kilogramme bags of Mbeya organic fertiliser, a quantity that is sufficient to fertilise a significant area," said Fostina Mpalula, another lead farmer from Kadumba Scheme. Wiping her sweat amid high temperatures in the Shire Valley district, Mpalula notes that Mbeya has been instrumental in improving soil fertility, structure and enhancing moisture retention. "Leveraging the capacity building from the Evangelical Association of Malawi (EAM), we are now imparting the knowledge in our fellow farmers in the area," she added. THYOKA— We wanted to address the issue of food security Evangelical Association of Malawi (EAM) Project Coordinator Chikondi Thyoka, whose organisation is supporting farmers with capacity building and necessities, said it is high time the country embraced cost-effective and tailor-made interventions. Thyoka said the development would go a long way in ensuring food security in the country. "As a start-up, the farmers were given fertiliser and movable solar-powered water pumps. Besides this, the organisation, through its Chapananga Community Resilience Building Project, also donated goats to farmers to ease dung collection for the production of Mbeya. "We wanted to address issues of food security and crop productivity in the area. After seeing that fertiliser prices had risen on the market, we planned a cheaper initiative that could also [help farmers] produce better results. So, our farmers were trained in Mbeya production and other climate-smart agriculture technologies," Thyoka said. In June this year, Chikwawa District Council Director of Agriculture Isaac Ali also observed the need for farmers to adopt Mbeya, citing its cost effectiveness. Ali said leveraging this, including irrigation systems, would go a long way in guaranteeing food security among households in the district. Coincidentally, the government, through the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Development, has made a bold shift toward Mbeya organic fertiliser use in the short to medium term through new guidelines for the Farm Inputs Subsidy Programme. According to the reforms, the programme will revert to paper coupons and the number of beneficiaries will be halved to 610,931 due to budget constraints. In addition to this, it will make the production and use of Mbeya organic fertilizer mandatory in a bid to improve food security. Among other things, of the 610,931 farmers, each will directly receive subsidised inorganic fertiliser and certified seeds. 1,221,862 other farmers are expected to benefit indirectly through the compulsory integration of Mbeya organic fertiliser production. The guidelines further compel beneficiaries to actively engage in producing and using Mbeya organic fertiliser. The development comes as the subsidy programme, introduced in the 2005-06 fiscal year, has struggled in recent years and failed to match input allocation to the scale of food security needs in the country. For instance, our publication's calculations established that, in the past six years, the government has spent over K700 billion on agricultural subsidies, yet crop production has remained relatively below the annual national requirement of 3.6 million metric tonnes. Our analysis shows that in the 2020-21 financial year, the subsidy programme received K160 billion and targeted 4.2 million households. Yet, during that period, 2.6 million Malawians still faced hunger. Fast forward to the just-ended 2025-26 fiscal year. Despite a 50.6 percent increase in funding to K241 billion to target just 1.1 million beneficiaries, about 4 million people, or roughly 891,000 households, were at risk of facing hunger. Agriculture is the backbone of Malawi's economy, significantly contributing to gross domestic product, export earnings, employment and food and nutritional security. In the country's flagship economic blueprint, the Malawi 2063 vision, agricultural productivity and commercialisation are identified as some of the three pillars.

Times Malawi Times Malawi · Wire Report · 8 hours ago · 5 min read

Organic fertiliser turns the tide for local farmers

Image via wire syndication · Times Malawi

WIRE — UPROOTING WEEDS—Manyonde By By Emmanuel Chilemba: For Thauzeni Manyonde, a lead farmer from Traditional Authority (TA) Chapananga in Chikwawa District, a sharp rise in the price of fertiliser has put the soil nutrient out of reach, with a 50 kilogramme (kg) bag now averaging over K150,000 on the market. Manyonde said to make matters worse, the Shire Valley district's vulnerability to recurring climatic shocks, including prolonged dry spells and floods, continues to make crop production a heavy gamble. "For decades, significant cross-cutting hurdles, including limited access to farm inputs under subsidy programmes, have slashed our crop yields, putting most households on the brink of hunger," Manyonde indicates. Standing in his maize field while guarding the crop, he says for households that depend on farming for a living, it has been a nightmare as they struggle to make ends meet. Ironically, it is the month of August, when farmers would ordinarily be preparing land for the new season, yet his field is already flourishing with green maize, with tassels at the top waving in the wind. "I planted this maize just two months ago and I'm planning to plant again soon after harvesting. In a few weeks, it will be ready for the market as we often sell fresh green maize. "The drastic turn came when I started applying Mbeya organic fertiliser, which is proving to be a game changer, given its affordability, unlike chemical fertiliser, which is expensive," he said. Practically, a farmer needs the following ingredients to produce a 50-kg bag of the homegrown soil nutrient: 21kg of maize bran, 10kg of ash, 10kg of livestock dung, 10kg of inorganic fertiliser either NPK or urea and 5 litres of water. The mixture is left for 21 days to ferment, in readiness for the organic manure's use in crop production. "Using these proportions, a 50-kilogramme bag of chemical fertiliser makes five more 50-kilogramme bags of Mbeya organic fertiliser, a quantity that is sufficient to fertilise a significant area," said Fostina Mpalula, another lead farmer from Kadumba Scheme. Wiping her sweat amid high temperatures in the Shire Valley district, Mpalula notes that Mbeya has been instrumental in improving soil fertility, structure and enhancing moisture retention. "Leveraging the capacity building from the Evangelical Association of Malawi (EAM), we are now imparting the knowledge in our fellow farmers in the area," she added. THYOKA— We wanted to address the issue of food security Evangelical Association of Malawi (EAM) Project Coordinator Chikondi Thyoka, whose organisation is supporting farmers with capacity building and necessities, said it is high time the country embraced cost-effective and tailor-made interventions. Thyoka said the development would go a long way in ensuring food security in the country. "As a start-up, the farmers were given fertiliser and movable solar-powered water pumps. Besides this, the organisation, through its Chapananga Community Resilience Building Project, also donated goats to farmers to ease dung collection for the production of Mbeya. "We wanted to address issues of food security and crop productivity in the area. After seeing that fertiliser prices had risen on the market, we planned a cheaper initiative that could also [help farmers] produce better results. So, our farmers were trained in Mbeya production and other climate-smart agriculture technologies," Thyoka said. In June this year, Chikwawa District Council Director of Agriculture Isaac Ali also observed the need for farmers to adopt Mbeya, citing its cost effectiveness. Ali said leveraging this, including irrigation systems, would go a long way in guaranteeing food security among households in the district. Coincidentally, the government, through the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Development, has made a bold shift toward Mbeya organic fertiliser use in the short to medium term through new guidelines for the Farm Inputs Subsidy Programme. According to the reforms, the programme will revert to paper coupons and the number of beneficiaries will be halved to 610,931 due to budget constraints. In addition to this, it will make the production and use of Mbeya organic fertilizer mandatory in a bid to improve food security. Among other things, of the 610,931 farmers, each will directly receive subsidised inorganic fertiliser and certified seeds. 1,221,862 other farmers are expected to benefit indirectly through the compulsory integration of Mbeya organic fertiliser production. The guidelines further compel beneficiaries to actively engage in producing and using Mbeya organic fertiliser. The development comes as the subsidy programme, introduced in the 2005-06 fiscal year, has struggled in recent years and failed to match input allocation to the scale of food security needs in the country. For instance, our publication's calculations established that, in the past six years, the government has spent over K700 billion on agricultural subsidies, yet crop production has remained relatively below the annual national requirement of 3.6 million metric tonnes. Our analysis shows that in the 2020-21 financial year, the subsidy programme received K160 billion and targeted 4.2 million households. Yet, during that period, 2.6 million Malawians still faced hunger. Fast forward to the just-ended 2025-26 fiscal year. Despite a 50.6 percent increase in funding to K241 billion to target just 1.1 million beneficiaries, about 4 million people, or roughly 891,000 households, were at risk of facing hunger. Agriculture is the backbone of Malawi's economy, significantly contributing to gross domestic product, export earnings, employment and food and nutritional security. In the country's flagship economic blueprint, the Malawi 2063 vision, agricultural productivity and commercialisation are identified as some of the three pillars.

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