Like many other countries in the world, Malawi has not been spared by the rise in the cost of living. Different factors have been attributed to the trend, including the Covid 19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and a general global economic meltdown.

These challenges have largely affected farming, which is the main source of
income for people in rural areas, the price of chemical fertilizers has shot up almost four-fold.

However, in Mchinji, a district on the western border that borders Malawi, Zambia, and Mozambique to the south, farmers have found an alternative way to cushion their cost of living by farming what is called small livestock breeds’. These are animal breeds that are naturally small in size and, thus, simple and cheaper to raise compared to large breeds.

These small-holder farmers in this Central Region district of Malawi are using proceeds from these breeds of small livestock as sources of income, food, and manure to support their families.

Mchinji has an area of 3,356 square kilometers (335,600 hectares). Because of its status as a border district, it is relatively developed which makes land a scarce resource.

Chikumbutso Yakobe, a father of three, in Kachamba village who spoke to AMAD appreciates how some farmers here are beating the current economic challenges. For so many years, Yakobe had been farming on his small piece of land but could not afford to harvest enough for his family’s consumption and give his family all its daily needs. The situation, he says, just got worse in the last couple of years following the pandemic and other economic challenges which have affected Malawi and many other countries in Southern Africa.

According to Yakobe, in 2020, he joined a farming club in his village and started rearing small livestock breeds – particularly chickens and goats.
Kachamba Village has a club membership of 35, of which 20 are women and 15 are men. Apart from small livestock production, the club is also into irrigation and fruit farming, through irrigation farming, they grow different crops, including vegetables and maize.

Two years down the line, Yakobe’s life has transformed into being self-reliant on key aspects of livelihood: income and food security. Yakobe bought a piece of land after selling some of his chickens. On that piece of
land, he now plants different types of crops. He does not need to buy chemical fertilizer because he makes his own organic manure using excretes from the livestock which he raises. He says this is helping him to harvest enough food for his family and have a surplus for sell. Now Yokobe is able to send his children to school without difficulties.

Yakobe further says with the extra income he made from selling his chickens, he opened a small grocery shop in his village to help his fellow villagers to access some of their needs right in their village, instead of walking long distances to the main trading centre as they did before.
Last year, Yakobe realized K250, 000($243.32) after selling local chickens, and he used some of the money to open his small shop. He also bought two goats using the remaining amount. “My life has completely changed as I am now able to take care of my family. Now, I have 27 chickens and four goats and my family is able to have enough food throughout the year than it was the case before,” he says smilingly.

According to the Agriculture Extension Development Officer for Mchinji District, Steven Maulidi, access to farm land, especially for small-holder farmers, is a problem here, as a lot of farmers do not have or cannot afford bigger farming land for them to harvest sufficient crops. Because of this, Maulidi, says the agriculture office in the district thought of diversifying its way of working with farmers. So, the District Agriculture Office, in collaboration with the Catholic Development Commission (CADECOM),
established what they call ‘Small Livestock Pass-on Programme’ for the farmers to benefit financially and nutritionally. “This initiative has been a great success, since 2020 we have seen lives of farmers changing for the better and it is our wish to see almost every farming family benefiting through this initiative, not just in the 6 T/As but the whole district,” says
Maulidi.

The pass on initiative started in the year 2020 and it has so far benefited over 250 farmers from all the 6 T/As in Mchinji district.