RED BAILS OUT YOUTHFUL FARMERS

Youthful couple – Braveson Chithope, 28, and Lezina Keliasi, 25 – from Kumitengo Village, Nyanja Extension Planning Area (EPA) under Senior Chief Kalumbu in Lilongwe has all reasons to walk tall as the 2025/2026 growing season harvesting period approaches. The couple had always desired to farm beyond subsistence, but low access to inputs coupled with unforgiving long dry spells, had always stood in the way over the past growing seasons. But the young couple is singing a different song in the 2025/2026 growing season as, by 10th February, 2026, the Chithopes’ maize crop field had already confirmed a pending bumper yield, with long and healthy maize cobs in their field. “It’s a one-acre field and as you can see, the yield is very promising,” explained Chithope’s wife, Lezina, during a media tour mid-February, 2026, and she went on: “We are expecting not less than 80 bags of maize from this field as the variety that you’re seeing here is a long duration variety, which yields way beyond 100 bags per acre.” Her husband, Braveson, had expressed similar optimism earlier, mid-January, when the Minister of Agriculture, Roza Mbilizi, had visited the stand as the maize crop was just about to tassel. Braveson and his wife are among farmers in Lilongwe who benefitted from the Response to Emergency and Disaster (RED), a contingency component within the Sustainable Agricultural Production Programme (SAPP II), designed to respond to emergencies and disaster that may arise in Malawi. Despite the dry spell that threatened farmers in a number of districts, including Lilongwe and Balaka, most RED beneficiaries have been least affected, with their maize crop promising a bumper yield, raising hopes of prosperity among older, and younger farmers like Braveson and his wife, Lezina. “When we harvest our maize, we plan to reserve a few bags for consumption up to the other harvest and sell the rest,” explained Lezina, adding: “Then we will invest the generated income into a business of our choice and make more gains.”

SAPP II imparting good agricultural practices

Kasoni applauded SAPP II for imparting good agricultural practices, including soil conservation, proper ridging and planting, which he attributed RED Component’s success to. “Farmers under RED have made a notable difference in our area and, although we have a few weeks to go before harvest time, the fields are promising us a bumper harvest,” explained Kasoni, himself a RED beneficiary. From his one-acre piece of land where he planted certified maize seed, Kasoni is expecting not less than 80 bags of maize, which he plans to sell, after reserving enough to feed his family– an experience the GVH confesses he hasn’t had for years. “A leader must lead by example in all aspects: A leader who can’t feed himself doesn’t command respect from his/her subjects – and it’s even worse when the subjects, themselves, also can’t feed themselves,” reasoned Kasoni. He added: “A hungry leader can easily fall into the trap of corruption to earn a living; but RED Component under SAPP II has draped us chiefs in a robe of honour by, above all else, enabling us and our subjects to be food secure.”

GVH Kanyumbu

Thanks to the Government of Malawi for introducing the SAPP project in my area, which has improved farming.

Grace Matola

After applying conservation agriculture knowledge, I harvested 11 bags from the same plot despite dry spells.