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Multi-Donor Trust Fund ASWAp-SPII Lessons Dissemination Workshop

The Ministry of Agriculture organized a half-day lesson-learning workshop on the MDTF ASWAp-SP II at BICC, Lilongwe on 16 June 2023. The objective of the workshop was to share project success stories and impacts on the livelihoods of the targeted communities. The workshop allowed the direct project beneficiaries to narrate their success stories, benefits and impacts on their livelihood.

In his remarks, the Principal Secretary for Agriculture, Mr. Dickxie Kampani, pointed out that ASWAp-SP is one of the most successful Multi-Donor Trust Fund in the agriculture sector. The MDTF DPs are the EU, Irish Aid, World Bank, Norwegian Embassy and Flanders Government. He then pointed out that although the project was successful, it was affected by the turbulence of challenges including the Covid-19 pandemic, pest infestation, Cyclone Gombe, Anna and Freddy.

The Task Team Leader, Time Fatch of the World Bank underscored that the project was promoting productivity and diversification as well as a road network for the farmers to access markets. In addition, the project focused on building farmer resilience and it was a pioneer in revamping the banana industry in Malawi. On results, he pointed out that the project has been successful with an increase of 35-40% to the set target despite facing environmental challenges. In his conclusion, he underscored the need to learn from how the project has been implemented to inform the implementation of other similar projects in the future.

Below are some of the successful interventions adopted by farmers:
  1. Project reach-out and adoption of improved agriculture technology; the project reached 270,602 farmers (134,081 females and 43,897 youthful farmers) against the target of 230,000 (117.7% achievement).
  2. Production of early generation legume seed; a total of 316.85 MT was produced against the target of 305MT (103.8% achievement).
  3. Promotion of integrated Soil Fertility Management; the project supported area-specific fertilizer
    4. recommendations and a total of 5 fertilizer blends were released.
  4. Livestock production and productivity; a total of 50 dairy, 2,250 goats and 400 pig farmers were mobilized into 181 livestock groups.
  5. Farmer success stories: Mr Kopolande from Thyolo stated that the project has helped him to venture back into the banana industry. “Now I can pay for school fees for my kids. I have established my own office and I have young people working with me. I have a solar panel in my house and I am living like those in town”, Mr. Kopolande said.

On the project approach, the use of the village model proved to be effective in packaging project interventions and facilitated omnipresent results within the project catchment area.