By Vincent Gunde

The Churches Action in Relief and Development (CARD) says shortage of food in the households has affected pig feeding in the project it was implementing in Dowa district as communities are eating maize bran which is the main feed for pigs.

The CARD has been implementing Promoting agro-ecology transition for enhanced resilient agriculture in Malawi (PAETERA) project targeting areas of two traditional authorities Msakambewa and Mponela in 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 agro-ecological farming, information from the project contributing 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 rising number of fall army worms, scarcity of fuel in the country, flooding in some parts of project implementation areas and unwillingness of some beneficiaries to pass-on pigs to other beneficiaries.

“There is unstable market on the ground, this 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 progress of their projects to the secretariat as well as signing Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) with the council and CSO Network to enhance cooperation, transparency and accountability.