Talandira Irrigation Farmers Club

Country:

Site: Mphunda village, Lilongwe

Project
Timeline

May 2019

- September 2019

Primary sector

project cost

1,165,000 MWK

($1,574.32)

People impacted

12 Directly

5,000 Indirectly

UN Sustainable Development goals

Project Overview

The community was able to convey that the current status of their agricultural pursuits would not be sustainable because of inconsistent weather, unreliable access to water for their crops, and the predatory lending practices that had swept their community. Upon learning that a very small percentage of farmers had diversified crops and used irrigation, CorpsAfrica Volunteer Jailos was able to help the community build a project that would add cash crops including onions, cabbage, and tomatoes. The community was extremely enthusiastic about the project and was heavily involved from start to finish. The 12 individual farmers were put into 6 duos so that they would have a teammate to work with for the duration of this farming endeavor.

This project included 2 phases established to alleviate food insecurity as well as create an opportunity to gain income from farming. The first phase involved education of farmers on new farming and business techniques, preparing the land, building irrigation capacity, and creating nursery capacity. The second phase involved transplanting the seedlings from the nursery to the main fields and using the irrigation systems that were set up in Phase 1. The community contributed land, seeds, and food to the project. The community contributed financially to acquire servicing materials to maintain the irrigation system.

Project Highlights

  • 100% members of Talandira farmers group are involved in irrigation farming, in addition to this other community members have been involved in irrigation farming after seeing the profits their friends are making

  • The club members are now growing different cash crops as compared in the past where they were depending on tobacco only, now they are growing cabbages, tomatoes, onion, regume and eggplants

  • The club members are now having more than MWK2000/day as compared to baseline survey which revealed MWK750/day

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