Page 75 - AFAP Success Stories 2020

Mrs. Dinnah is one of the pioneers of Agrodealer businesses in Due to the movement restriction imposed by
Malawi, with a track record in this field of over 18 years. In 2011, government, I was unable to go to Mponela to buy
she was awarded the “AFRICAN AGRIBUSINESS ENTREPRENEUR “Shumba” a crop protection product for treating
OF THE YEAR AWARD” for outstanding business achievement my maize because transport costs had gone up
in agricultural inputs in Africa.
tremendously. Worse off, despite the Government
partially lifting the ban I do not have money to buy
The Effects of COVID-19 on Tisaiwale K “Shumba”. I grow maize, legumes and vegetables. In
Agro-Trading February 2020, through irrigation I grew vegetables
Despite Tisaiwale K. being a household name for farmers in with the expectation of getting an income from it,
Dowa and Ntchisi districts, the COVID-19 has greatly affected unfortunately this pandemic has led to my major
the business performance and operations: buyer – Linde Hotel here in Mponela, closing. This
has forced me to sell the vegetables, which are also
• Shops Deserted: Reduced number of farmers to the shop highly perishable at throw away price.
due to fear of contracting the disease through exposure,
thus stayed locked up at home, this reduced the sales of Says Mr. Harriden Wakitala
inputs. This in itself has resulted in fewer sales and low on
the counter advice to farmers. Huge capital is tied up in
inputs which are not moving as expected.
• Farmers assumed lockdown meant people moving
around to only access health services as an essential service
thus deemed access to agricultural inputs as non-essential
services.
• Banning of Social Gatherings: The ban of large gatherings
affected the extension services offered by the They could
not conduct field days which was critical since the farmers
had not completed the exposure to all agronomic best
practices as required.
• Cob Maturity and Postharvest: The lockdown
announcement came at the time when the farmers were
preparing to harvest. They were forced to harvest before
the crop had properly dried for storage. This resulted in
denying the farmers some of the useful knowledge such
as treating maize and other crops from postharvest losses.
Generally postharvest losses in Malawi register up to 40%
and we anticipate that this year it might even go up further
because most of our farmers missed this opportunity to be

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