By Vincent Gunde
The Ministry of Agriculture will implement Investing in Livelihood Resilience and Soil Health (ILSA) project in four districts of the country, Lilongwe, Mzimba, Dowa and Balaka.
The ILSA project was designed to co – finance the funding gap within Sustainable Agricultural Production Programme ( SAPP 11) and it is being funded by the European Union ( EU) through the International Fund for Agricultural Development ( IFAD).
The Financing Agreement of the project was signed on 27th March, 2025 between the Government of Malawi and IFAD at the total project cost of EUR 2,832 million, and it will be implemented over a period of three years.
Presenting the project to the District executive committee (Dec) in Dowa, Mirrium Njolomole – Desk Officer for Dowa West Agriculture office SAPP 11 project, said the project has a goal of contributing to improving food and nutrition security of farmers through sustainable farming systems.
Njolomole said the project is seeking to address critical agricultural production and productivity challenges through an agroecology approach saying its interventions will focus on sustainable water management, bio – based disease and pest management, soil fertility management through support from local bio – fertilizer production and use, soil restoration through agroecological approaches.
She said the project will be implemented in selected SAPP 11 districts of Balaka, Mzimba North, Mzimba South, Lilongwe East, Lilongwe West, Dowa West and Dowa East respectively.
The officer said in Dowa district, the ILSA project will be implemented in two EPAs with two sections covered under each EPA.
” In Dowa West, the project will be implemented in Bowe EPA covering Chinkhwiri, and Chimbuli 1 sections while in Dowa East, implementation will take place in Chibvala EPA – Mtengowanthenga and Zidunge sections,” said Njolomole.
In his remarks, Dowa District Council’s Principal Nutrition Hiv and Aids Officer Noel Chikumbu, described the project as an important investment towards wealth creation, improved food and nutrition security to farmer groups in the district.
Chikumbu called for a strong team to be providing technical services to the project so that what is being implemented be a success not only to farmers but the Dowa communities.
