Africa-Press – Malawi. As the morning sun rises over Visepo Model Village in Mpherembe, Mzimba District, the sound of laughter and the sight of bamber harvests tell a new story, one of progress and hope.
It’s a far cry from the dry, struggling community that began the Transform Project five years ago.
The Royal Norwegian Embassy, through Find Your Feet under the NCA-DCA Malawi Joint Country Programme’s Transform Project, aimed to empower local communities an initiative that has now significantly transformed Visepo Village, boosting entrepreneurship, food security, and nutrition among farmers.
Rebecca Nkhata from Visepo village, Traditional Authority Mpherembe, is a member of the Visepo model group and testifies to the project’s impact on their lives.
She says children who once struggled to concentrate in class due to hunger are now thriving malnutrition has declined, and their education is blossoming like never before.
She added that the group’s journey, which comprises 72 members, took a new turn after receiving a maize sheller, a simple machine that has sparked a big change in their village.
What once seemed impossible is now a source of pride, as the group has managed to harvest 250 bags of maize, each weighing 50 kilograms, all through the profits earned from the sheller business.
“Before, we had no idea how to make money here,” she said with a smile. But ever since we got this shelter, our story has changed. We’ve managed to raise over 3 million kwacha and harvest 250 bags of maize something we never dreamed of before.”
Israel Mithi, the village headman of Visepo, says the program has helped to uplift other marginalized Malawian communities struggling with malnutrition.
Mithi explains malnutrition is no longer pervasive because villagers have embraced animal rearing, home gardening, and other program-taught self-sufficiency practices.
He said their village has conquered hunger through a groundnut seed loan initiative that began with just 300 kilograms distributed among 20 people.
“We no longer face hunger in our village,” he said proudly. It all started when we received 300 kilograms of groundnut seeds to share among 20 farmers. After harvesting, we repaid 602 kilograms and now everyone has their own seeds, some even selling the surplus for profit and food.”
Despite these efforts by various stakeholders, Malnutrition in Malawi remains a burden.
A recent UNICEF Malawi SMART Survey (2024) paints a worrying picture for Mzimba, showing a 30 percent surge in Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) cases among children under five compared to 2022.
While the district has made notable strides in the fight against malnutrition, experts warn that the battle is far from over. They emphasize the need to sustain and expand life-changing interventions the kind of projects that are transforming communities and giving every child a fair chance to grow healthy and strong, turning malnutrition into a story of the past rather than a recurring reality.
Martin Gondwe, Agriculture Extension development coordinator.
Mpherembe EPA hailed the transformation project, saying people now have enough food, and about 9 people receive 5 goats each, totaling 45, which has also helped them for iwithme sustainability.
He said he noted that the village had hunger challenges, hence the decision to step up efforts to provide them with training to equip them with knowledge and skills on how best they can do their farming, especially at this time, when climate change is impacting the yields of farmers.
“We are using the village model as an approach to extension service delivery. We have seen a lot of improvement in terms of food security and diversification, and manure and food and nutrition,” said Gondwe.
While the five-year project has drawn to a close, the real test for Visepo’s farmers lies ahead. Sustaining the remarkable gains in food security, vibrant nutrition, and thriving entrepreneurship will depend on their ability to innovate, diversify, and continue supporting one another.
The pressing question now is not what the project has achieved, but how these determined farmers will build on its strong foundation to cultivate a resilient, flourishing, and prosperous future for their community.
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