Youthful entrepreneurs, Precious Mzunga and Osman Naphiyo have teamed up to form an initiative called “Mlimi Anyamuke Initiative (MAI)”, aimed at training local farmers skills help them exploit their potential and tap into opportunities in the agricultural industry.
The two Mwimba College Agriculture alumni, came up with the idea to introduce the initiative in 2023 after noticing challenges local farmers were facing to access knowledge regarding sustainable farming practices.
Together with his colleague, Mzunga said, so far dozens of farmers across Malawi have been trained at no cost.
He said the main focus of the initiative is to empower farmers with practical knowledge and skills that can improve productivity, increase profits and promote environmental friendly farming techniques.
“So, after me and my colleague sat down, we observed that there was a serious need to help our farmers with practical knowledge we obtained from college and that’s why we decided to introduce this initiative,” he said.
Mzunga, who is also a serving police officer, moves across Malawi imparting farmers with knowledge on sustainable farming solutions using local resources, innovative techniques and cost-effective farming solutions.
“So far, hundreds of farmers have been trained in Mbeya fertilizer manufacturing, livestock farming and irrigation farming,” said Mzunga.
Asked on what motivates them to offer lessons free of charge, Mzunga said their wish is to see Malawi become food secure.
“Although agriculture is the backbone of the country’s economy, a lot of farmers, most of them smallholder farmers cannot afford to pay for these kind of trainings and that’s why we don’t demand special fees,” He added.
Stan Nadzombe, a Lilongwe based beneficiary of MAI, has hailed the initiative calling it transformative.
“I’ve been trained on how to venture into irrigation farming by MAI and now I can testify that I am doing better than before,” said Nadzombe.
