Supporting Rice Farmers in Malawi in their Battle Against Climate Change

As Climate Change continues to be one of the major challenges faced by food producers in the Global South, the growers of True Origin Fair Trade Kilombero Rice have been suffering the effects of extreme weather patterns in recent months which have led to the devastation of their crops. 

The south of Malawi faced severe flooding earlier in the year due to Cyclone Fred. The northern district of Karonga where the rice is produced faced prolonged dry spells which have greatly diminished rice crop yields.

The government have declared Karonga a disaster area are supplying maize to feed the population, including the farmers and their families through an emergency scheme. For the rice farmers the drought has meant that yields are down and they are suffering. 

True Origin Chair, Mary Popple says “To the rice farmers of Karonga, rice is a cash crop, it’s their livelihood rather than a subsistence crop such as maize and cassava which they grow to eat. They tell us that it is very important that we continue to support them by buying their rice and thereby providing money for them to buy necessities such as secondary education, farming equipment, medicines etc. It is also important that foreign currency such as that generated through the export of rice continues to flow into Malawi to enable the country to function”. 

Irrigation pumps have been supplied to the Kilombero Rice farmers by The Balmore Trust (now True Origin Partnerships) in the past. The farmers requested petrol powered pumps as they were available for immediate purchase and use, and much cheaper than any solar powered pumps that they could access quickly. The rice farmers are currently growing short variety rice which can be harvested in 90 days, as well as other food crops, thus improving food security in the region. True Origin Partnerships has started discussions with KASFA to look at a longer-term project to replace the petrol pumps with appropriate solar pumps.

Howard Msukwa of smallholder farmers association, KASFA said "The farmers who are still using pumps which the Balmore Trust (now True Origin Partnership) supported us with some time back survived the dry spell and are now busy preparing their fields for winter cropping, so they asked me to request irrigation support again.

“We agreed that, if possible, we need 20 petrol water pumps which can be used by 200+ farmers,” said Howard. 

Sixteen petrol water pumps have since been purchased and distributed amongst the members enabling them to irrigate their land. These pumps have already been in use to assist farmers in growing crops that they will harvest and eat within their community.

From November onwards they will help irrigation for next year's rice crop”. 

Funding this recent purchase was made possible through a few generous donations with the view to hopefully alleviating some of the climate effects that the farmers are seeing impacting on their rice and other crops.

True Origin Partnerships Chair Joyce Davidson said  “The close working relationship between True Origin Foods and True Origin Partnerships means that we are able to gain a rapid understanding of issues affecting our producer partners. On this occasion, and thanks to some generous donations, we were able to respond immediately to KASFA’s request for urgent help to irrigate their crops. We hope that we can work together to look at the most appropriate longer term solutions”.

The drought-stricken farmers reached out to ask not just for the pumps but also that UK consumers continue to buy their rice as this provides their only income. 

“True Origin and True Origin Partnerships are working together to do both these things. The close, direct relationship we have with all our producers means that we are able to support them through crises such as this in the most effective ways possible,” says True Origin Chair, Mary Popple.

True Origin is urging consumers to continue to buy Kilombero rice as part of their concern for our planet and its people. This crucial support can be done through True Origin online https://www.trueorigin.org.uk and through Fair Trade shops across the country.