Mulibwanji [Greetings] from Malawi. My name is 
My husband owns an acre of land which I used to grow food to feed our family. Each year, I managed to harvest 750kg of maize, which was hardly enough to feed my family for seven months. For the other five months I would travel 20km, over the border into Mozambique, to find work as a daily farm labourer. My wages alone weren't enough, so I was forced to take my three eldest children to work with me. This meant that each year they lost five months of their education.
It was frustrating not being able to produce enough food and having to migrate with my children to find work. But I faced many challenges growing food; not enough land or rainfall, and a lack of seeds and fertilisers. Fertiliser is one of the biggest expenses and is getting more expensive all the time. Four months ago, one bag cost 5,695 Kwacha [£25] but now it costs 10,685 Kwacha [£47].
Other women in this area were facing the same challenges, and one day some of us decided that we needed to work together to overcome our problems. We had heard on the radio about irrigation farming and decided that was what we needed to do. To achieve this we needed to work together on a large plot of land, rather than individually farming small plots. We formed ourselves into a farming group and called ourselves the Namitembo Irrigation Scheme. We started off with 24 members but now we have over 100. We approached the village headman to ask him for a large plot of land to start our scheme. He gave us 10 hectares.
Together we cleared the land ready for planting and dug channels to allow water to flow from the hills 1km away. This would be our irrigation system. Without wasting any time, I started preparing my share of the land, two acres, and planted maize and vegetables. In that first year, I managed to harvest 1,350kg of maize, almost double my previous yields. However, this was mainly due to having more land. I still faced challenges with water and fertiliser. Although we had channelled water down from the hills, I still had to carry it from the channels to my crops, which was time consuming. I also still had the problem of the ever increasing cost of fertiliser.
At this time, ActionAid started working in our area and were impressed with our efforts to increase food production. They offered to help us overcome our challenges. They provided pipes, cement and a pump to allow water to be pumped to the whole plot of land. They also provided fertiliser. I received four bags, which was a great help to me. To reduce our reliance on fertilisers and to reduce our farming costs they taught us how to make manure from natural waste.
Their help made a huge difference. My next harvest was 2,500kg of maize. I kept 1,500kg to feed my family, which I managed to do for the whole year. The rest I was able to sell to buy clothes for my children, school fees for my two children at secondary school and other food items and household necessities. I have even managed to install a solar panel system on my house. We now have electricity, which means my children can do their homework even when it's dark.
Warm regards Margaret Masese
PS. I have sent you two photos. One is of me helping to lay irrigation pipes, and the other is of me tending my crops. I hope you like them.
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