Blantyre Dado, T/A Kunthembwe blast NGOs

Blantyre district agriculture development officer (Dado) Linda Mphande has accused non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the agriculture sector working in Kunthembwe Extension Planning Area for failing to deliver as expected.

Speaking after touring crop fields in Blantyre rural, Mphande expressed disappointment at how farmers in the area were still lagging behind in terms of implementation of modern faming technologies with some of the lead farmers failing to harvest bumper yields due to lack of knowledge.

“I am not fully impressed. Even though there are several NGOs registered to be working in this area, the work on the ground is unsatisfactory particularly in terms of packaging of the interventions and dissemination of information to the farmers,” he said.

He said this during the first ever field day visit organised by the Blantyre District Agriculture Extension Coordination Committee (Daec) aimed at appreciating the impact of projects run by NGOs.
In his remarks, Senior Chief Kunthembwe urged the NGOs to up their game and start working with villagers if their work is to yield tangible results.
“They don’t even consult us, they select a few farmers, give them money and then write reports to present to the council,” he said.

Some of the NGOs working in the area are Catholic Development Commission, Total Land Care, Save the Children and Feed the Future.
Feed the Future regional resilience coordinator Kondwani Khonje attributed the shortfall in delivery to poor coordination.