Emily, a 35-year-old smallholder farmer, lives in Chiwamba, Traditional Authority Chimutu in Lilongwe district.
She cultivates a 1.5-acre farm, growing maize, soybeans, and groundnuts to support her family of five.
Emily struggles to find reliable buyers for her produce. The nearest market is 20 kilometers away, and transportation costs eat into her already slim profits.
The dirt road leading to the market is often impassable during the rainy season, making it difficult to transport her produce.
Emily lacks access to market prices, trends, and best practices, hindering her ability to make informed decisions.
Emily’s limited access to markets results in low sales and income, making it difficult to support her family.
“I produce good quality crops, but I struggle to find buyers. The traders come to my farm, offer low prices, and take advantage of me.”
Emily’s wish is to have better markets in Malawi where farmers can ably sell their farm produce.
“I wish I had access to better markets, where I could get fair prices for my produce. It’s frustrating to see my hard work go to waste.”
Emily’s story highlights the struggles faced by many smallholder farmers in Malawi. But what are the main barriers to market access for smallholder farmers in Malawi?
A consortium of Oxfam, CICOD and CADECOM with funding from the government of Flanders is implementing a project in Kasungu District called Enhancing Access to Profitable and Inclusive Agriculture Markets for Smallholder Farmers with an aim of increasing access to predictable and inclusive access to markets in Kasungu.
Patison Nthala is Oxfam’s project coordinator and highlights the barriers.
“Lack of exposure by farmers to available markets, lack of proper storage facilities, lack of capacity to hold on to products and sell when prices are right, lack of capacity of farmer group leaders to market, negotiate and seal business agreements are some of the barriers to market access for smallholder farmers in Malawi. Supporting farmer groups to increase
production and also skills in business and introducing adult modules targeting business skills development could help improve market access in Malawi.”
Agriculture expert Tamani Nkhono Mvula said government should formulate and enforce regulations that support market access to farmers
” This is a long overdue problem that farmers have been facing. As a country we need to find lasting solutions by proper infrastructure that would help in improving access to markets and the private sector such as banks and input traders should provide access to finance among farmers.” He said.
The project is targeting 3,000 households from four Extension Planning Areas
