As Balaka district continues to fight food insecurity, the Find Your Feet organization with support from World Food Program has handed over irrigation of almost 28 million kwacha to the villagers of Kabiyo under Traditional Authority Kalembo in the district. The initiative is part of enhancing food security through irrigation as most farmers in the area did not yield enough during rain-fed farming.
Balaka is one of the districts that is affected by climate challenges such as dry spells and floods. The 2.5 hectares scheme is benefiting 46 farmers who are into different crop farming and it is an initiative that has given hope to the people.
One of the beneficiaries John Kaunda expressed gratitude towards the initiative as it has given him an opportunity to practice his farming on a large land than he used to with water sources just nearby. Kaunda who is a vegetable farmer said he once had problems in producing enough as the water was his biggest challenge but with the coming of the irrigation scheme there is the hope of producing more although he expressed worry over the availability of markets.
‘My concern now is on marketing. Like now we are producing but we don’t know who will buy from us and that is the biggest challenge that we face as smallholder farmers”, said Kaunda who despite that challenge he is still standing his ground to continue with farming.
The handover ceremony was graced by Executive Director Mellina Mtonga who made the official handover to the Balaka district council. Mtonga while handing over the scheme called on the community to take responsibility for the irrigation scheme as it is for the community’s benefit. She expressed concern over vandalism with an example of the first irrigation scheme that the organization donated to the same area in 2020 but was vandalized and now it is not in operation since its maintenance is expensive. ‘Vandalism is very dangerous as far as the solar-powered scheme is concerned. We are talking about the solar panels and pumps which means the scheme cannot work as we expect. That is why we are asking our beneficiaries to provide security at the scheme, either they might be going there in turns to guard the scheme or they might contribute money to hire a security guard just to oversee the safety of the scheme”, said Mtonga.
In his remarks, the district commissioner Dr. Macloud Kadam’manja assured Find Your Feet of the council’s support on the irrigation scheme’s sustainability and scalability so that the remaining land that is irrigable in the area should also be included in the initiative. Dr. Kadam’manaja said the council will include the project in its plans and will be supervised now and then to also make sure that it is really contributing to the change that was meant to come. ‘We have different plans as council and this development is one of the activities that will help us achieve those plans, therefore we will be coming here to supervise so that this initiative does not go in vain. We will also help in covering the remaining hectares so that more farmers benefit from it’, Dr. Kadam’manja said.
Besides benefiting the farmers, the scheme will also create job opportunities for the people surrounding it.
Find Your Feet has constructed the irrigation scheme with monitory support from DFD through World Food Program. Despite this initiative, the organization is also fighting the effects of climate change by encouraging tree planting and forest regeneration. It is also advocating for nutrition to reduce stunting in the district and all this is happening inside the Integrated resilience program.
By Rashida Matandika, Luntha TV news