TRAINING ON CLIMATE SMART AGRICULTURE FOR FARMERS

by: Chikumbutso Gasper Willard - 10|05|2023

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Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing agriculture today. In response to this, the Foundation for Active Civic Education (FACE) organized a two-day training on Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) for farmers in the new villages from T/A Mbenje, Nsanje District.

The training aimed to enable the households in the targeted 12 communities to adopt climate-smart agricultural technologies at a larger scale. The training was held at Magoti TDC on 21st – 22nd April 2021, and 40 participants (16 men, 34 women) both from new 4 villages and old villages attended.

On the first day, the participants were briefed on the importance of CSA in the catchment area and its effects. Various CSA technologies, including water harvesting structures, marker ridges pegging/swalley construction, and box ridges construction, were also discussed.
The participants were divided into groups to discuss the challenges that the communities face hindering the fast adoption of the CSA technologies. Some of the challenges included lack of bylaws set aside at the community level for this activity, leaders not taking much part in the adoption of the technologies, and communities clinging to the conventional way better than the new technologies.

On the second day, the participants identified cluster members and sites, involved local leaders and lead farmers, and formed bylaws. They also came up with action plans for their areas to sort out the challenges. The chiefs were happy with the FACE approach, promising to encourage everyone in the community to take part. The participants came out with six activity action plans which will guide the communities to implement their activities.

The training was a success, with participants demonstrating readiness to start off the CSA technologies early this season while increasing the coverage by including more members. Local leaders were willing to increase the coverage of the concept and membership, and lead farmers accepted that not all of them communicated to the chiefs on what they were trained on. The organization will use the plans to monitor activities in the targeted communities.

In conclusion, the training was timely and addressed crucial issues affecting agriculture in the new villages. The participants gained knowledge and skills on CSA, and with the support of FACE, they are ready to adopt the technologies. It is hoped that the training will have a positive impact on agriculture and the livelihoods of the households in the targeted 12 communities T/A Mbenje, Nsanje District.