Malawi Freedom Network 
By Brighton Tchongwe
One Acre Fund Malawi says it is distributing farming inputs to 149,777 smallholder farmers across nine districts to improve agricultural productivity and strengthen their resilience against anticipated El Niño-related drought conditions.
The distribution is being implemented under the organisation’s Input Loan Programme, which provides farmers with quality seeds and fertiliser on credit, repayable over a flexible period of ten months.
The programme is targeting farmers in Blantyre, Thyolo, Mulanje, Chiradzulu, Zomba, Machinga, Ntcheu, Dedza and Lilongwe, with the inputs valued at 54.6 billion kwacha.
One Acre Fund Communications Officer Francis Chipanda says the initiative also includes practical training in climate-smart agriculture to help farmers minimise the effects of dry spells.
Chipanda says the training covers appropriate planting times, proper crop spacing, organic composting and fertiliser micro-dosing.
He says the organisation has prioritised early-maturing seed varieties in response to meteorological forecasts indicating a high likelihood of drought during the current farming season.
Chipanda adds that enrolled farmers have also been provided with climate risk insurance to protect their investments in the event of crop losses.
Meanwhile, a farmer from Ntcheu, Rabecca Mezani, says participating in the programme has significantly improved her maize production, from about 200 kilogrammes to as much as 700 kilogrammes during a good farming season.
One Acre Fund Malawi says it currently reaches more than 750,000 farmers across the country, both directly and through partnerships.
