Billy Mgala, 62, formerly grew tobacco in his Matheza village, Traditional Authority (T/A) Chulu, in Malawi’s Kasungu District. However, his experience with tobacco farming was not a pleasant one.

                                       Billy – “I have gained a lot from CAT support.”

“I thought tobacco farming would take me elsewhere. The salary I earn from my formal employment isn’t enough to cater for all my needs,” said Billy.

As a tobacco farmer, he joined a ten-member smallholder producers’ club to enhance his chances of getting input loans through contract farming schemes.

In 2017, he produced 12 bales of tobacco weighing 100 kilograms (kgs) each and needed to pay back four bales as his loan contribution to the club.

However, that same year, seven club members defaulted, forcing Billy to pay eight bales on behalf of defaulters. He got nothing in return.

“I stopped growing tobacco after I paid loans on behalf of defaulters. All my proceeds were used to pay back loans for the seven defaulters. This seriously affected our family. In addition, the tobacco selling prices were very low that year compared to the production costs I incurred,” he said.

As time went by, Billy later joined Mpepa Farmers’ Cooperative, where he learned about farming as a business and the importance of diversifying into other value chains — especially legumes, such as groundnuts and soybeans. He looked forward to growing more groundnuts, soybeans, maize, and sunflower.

Through the cooperative, he also learned about opportunities with Agriculture Input Supplies Limited (AISL), one of the agribusiness partners supported by the Centre for Agricultural Transformation (CAT) with funding from the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World through its affiliate the Agricultural Transformation Initiative (ATI).

AISL provided the farmers with training on appropriate agronomic management practices, and offered input loans for various products such as improved CG9 groundnut seed variety, fertilizers, inoculant, and ready markets.

“Before AISL came in through the support of CAT, it wasn’t possible to produce such high volumes and make profits like that because there was no support from anywhere. I was on my own,” he said

Previously, Billy grew an inferior groundnut variety, CG7, which was prone to disease and low yields. He earned very little from his groundnut production, as was the case in the 2019 to 2020 season, when he earned K100,000 from four 50kg bags of groundnuts.

“It was only in 2020 that I started seeing a change after I received support from CAT through AISL. The training support I received has opened my eyes to seriously start growing groundnuts,” explained Billy.

However, in the 2020 to 2021 growing season, Billy yielded 20 bags weighing 50 kgs of groundnuts on two acres of land and earned K350,000 as profit after selling to AISL.

In the 2021 to 2022 season, on the same two acres, his production increased to 35 bags of 50kg each, and he carted home a hefty sum of K1.5 million.

From the groundnut proceeds, Billy bought household furniture, fertilizer, goats, cattle, built a house, and increased his farming plot to 10 acres, on which he grows various crops.

“The chairs you are using came from groundnut profits. I also bought six 50kg bags of fertilizers to apply in my maize field. I have a lot of maize now to take me throughout the year. I’m no longer hungry, and people are admiring what I have achieved. I’m now an example in my community,” said Billy.

Billy encourages his fellow farmers to join groups such as clubs or cooperatives, so that they too can benefit from trainings, input loans from lending institutions, and access to markets.  

“You benefit a lot when you are in a group or cooperative. You move from one point to another and improve. We need to work hard as Malawians if we are to defeat poverty. There is money in farming for those who are hardworking and ambitious like me,” he said.

“Being in a cooperative is also very helpful, because we get so much advice and support as a group,” he added.

Through the knowledge and training sessions he has received through the CAT-AISL partnership, Billy is confident that he can continue to grow his farming business.  

Looking ahead, Billy said: “I want to use my earnings to buy more land. In this coming season, I may buy four acres more. But eventually, I want to expand to 10 acres of groundnuts. The selling price of groundnuts does not depreciate compared to other crops. I am aspiring to also grow CG9 because I’m inspired by the huge harvest a fellow farmer from the same cooperative has reaped during this [2022 to 2023] crop season.”

Billy considers climate change and shortage of land as some of the challenges affecting his farming.

“When you come back next year [2024], you will hear a different story. I have gained a lot from the CAT support through AISL. I follow what they have taught us, and I’m able to harvest high yields per small area especially the CG9 groundnut variety,” he said.

According to a study conducted by CAT in 2022, the majority of farmers supported through CAT partners increased their revenue and yield by 79 percent and 38 percent average yield increases, respectively.

The survey also found that 83 percent of CAT-targeted smallholder farmers had adopted agricultural technologies and innovations that the CAT promotes through smart farms across the country.

“We are delighted with the remarkable progress farmers are making, both in terms of productivity and increased incomes.” said Macleod Nkhoma, CAT Executive Director.