Climate Stories: Fraction’s Story

My name is Fraction, I am a 56 year old husband and father living in Skedi Village.

I look after my Aunt Meliya who was among the 5-community people for whom disaster resilient houses under the Build Back Better Initiative (BBBI) in 2021. To improve Meliya’s food security, the community provided her with a plot at Nyanfisi Solar Powered Irrigation Scheme constructed by FACE with support from All We Can. Considering that she is old and not able to farm and fend for herself, I was asked to manage the plot on her behalf and for the family. As a family unit, we are now one of the 35 farming families participating in the production of High Value Crop at the scheme.

I heard about FACE in 2021 when the organisation came into the area to when we were hit by Cyclone Anna and FACE was conducting an assessment on challenges faced by the community.

In the past, I have experienced poor harvests because of over reliance on rain which has become very erratic coupled with frequent dry spells due to climate change.

With FACE, I have gained the knowledge and capacity to produce quality crops which fetched good price on the market. This is because of the training I received on irrigation farming, water management techniques, entrepreneurship, and Gross Margin Analysis. The training was conducted by FACE for families participating in irrigation at the Scheme and I participated by virtue of my position as a caretaker for my aunt who couldn’t tend to her own plot.

We have seen great successes in the irrigation farming scheme; we harvested two bags of 50kgs of maize crop on 30th March 2024 which gave us food and energy. This was a relief considering that we harvested nothing from our rain fed agriculture. After that I planted high value crops provided by FACE as starter pack which assisted me to realize a total of MK680,000 ($390) from tomatoes and onion and MK243, 000 ($140) from leafy vegetable totalling to MK923,000 ($530). Part of the money was used to buy food at the market during the lean food period. We also made a saving of MK350,000 ($200).

Now I have seen success, I am urging community members to intensify the growing of high value crops as they grow fast and give out fast returns in a short period of time and improve dietary up take.

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