Government hails Market Linkages

The national coordinator on Presidential Initiative on Poverty and Hunger Reduction, Flora Kaluwire says Marker Linkages Initiative Bridging Activity (MLI BA) has helped smallholder farmers to access markets.

MLI BA was an 18-month USaid project whose main goal was to support the on-going transformation of structured and transparent commodity trading systems in Malawi.

Speaking during the official close-out meeting held recently in Lilongwe, Kaluwire said the three-million smallholder farmers have not benefited from their hard work due to old farming practices and lack of knowledge.

“It is a sad situation. Our farmers are struggling to take care of their produce while in the field and also after harvest and that is why post harvest losses is as high as 30 to 40 percent,” she said.

Due to this, farmers fail to enjoy the fruits of their hard labour, due to poor quality produce which fetches low at the market, she said.

The chief of party for MLI BA, Rachel Sibande says: “With these activities over 4 000 smallholder’s farmers were reached. We managed to rehabilitate and furnish 12 warehouses with high quality grading materials, in addition, we also developed an Sms alert service, where we were sending out messages on how best farmers can take care of their crops.”