By Watipaso Mzungu and Vincent Nhlema

Phalombe is believed to be a host to perennial natural disasters, a situation that poses a serious challenge to the majority of families who depend on farming to feed their families.

These disasters have, among others, resulted in loss of crops and livestock, land degradation through soil erosion and destruction of agricultural infrastructure, among others.

In Mtalava Village, Traditional Authority (T/A) Nkhulambe, for instance, 18 smallholder farmers plying their farming business under the National Smallholder Farmers’ Association of Malawi (NASFAM) had their crops and livestock destroyed by raging waters that came with Tropical Cyclone Freddy.

But they are now slowly building back.

By Vincent Nhlema

Mashaka Tepatepa, born in 1981, from Chataghalara village, Traditional Authority (T/A) Mwankhunikira, Rumphi District, is one of the farmers who for years depended on tobacco for his family livelihood until six years ago when he decided to diversify into legumes. He embarked on growing common beans, which have proved to be a game-changer for his family.

Tepatepa is a member of the North Viphya Farmers’ Association, operating under the National Smallholder Farmers’ Association of Malawi (NASFAM), who are working in partnership with governments of Norway and Ireland to improve livelihoods of smallholder farmers through farming business.

By Watipaso Mzungu

The Tropical Cyclone Freddy that hit Malawi in March 2023 not only claimed hundreds of lives, but also left a damage that will take years, if not decades, to repair.

The magnitude of the Freddy devastation is the worst, Malawi, which is one of the poorest countries in the world currently ranking 174 of 189 countries, could have expected considering that dozens of Malawians were already struggling to rebuild from two cyclones – Ana and Idai – that hit the country the previous successive two years.

By Vincent Nhlema

Farmer Associations under the National Smallholder Farmers’ Association of Malawi (NASFAM) have embraced value addition as means to increasing profitability while creating a steady market for their members’ produce in the long term. The initiative is also a response to the Buy Malawi campaign being promoted by government, to reduce dependence on imported goods.