By Witness Chipwere
Groundnut farmers in Traditional Authority Mtwalo in Mzimba District have said working in groups has helped them in enhancing productivity, crop yield and profitability.
About 20 farmers have been working together under Kalongonda Farmers’ Association with support from the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat), and Soils, Food and Health Communities (SFHC) since 2019.
Their agreement entails that Icrisat provides groundnut seed to the farmers, which they pay back when they harvest through the same produce.
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Icrisat is also the off-taker and SFHC provides training to the farmers on agroecology.
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Speaking after selling his produce, one of the farmers Standwell Nyirenda, who has made about K659,000, said the money will cushion him against the pangs of the recent devaluation of the Kwacha.
Nyirenda said he would also be able to pay school fees for his children and buy fertiliser for this farming season.
“From the sales I have made since I joined the association in 2019, I have managed to buy a sofa set, and I am able to buy fertiliser and pay school fees yearly,” he said, showing off some of the money.
Another farmer, Anita Chitaya who has made almost K500,000 from her sales, said her life has been transformed as she now owns seven goats.
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Chairperson for the association, Pressings Moyo, said farmers are grateful to SFHC and Icrisat for the distribution of seed, training on best farming practices and the readily available market.
Meanwhile, SFHC Project Coordinator Lizzie Shumba has said she is happy to see farmers benefiting from collective and contract marketing.
“When we started this initiative, we never knew it could be this beneficial. Now farmers have the market of their produce in place, which is very exciting,” she said.
Icrisat, through SFHC, established the Kalongonda farmers’ association in 2019 with the aim of helping the farmers with groundnut seed, which it buys from them.
In the 2022-23 farming season, every member received 32kg of seed. In total, Icrisat distributed 640kg of seed to farmers worth K809,600 from which the farmers produced 5 160kg worth K5,898, 660 after produce.
