Willmott Kaunda lives with his family of four in Jumbo Village in Mbuyapi. He used to farm on a very small scale and his harvest was not producing enough food to feed his family, he was cultivating less than one acre of maize. Willmott also could not afford his children’s school fees, uniforms and books, and they could not go to school hungry.  

He decided to contact Temwa seeking business advice. Willmott joined the Kaputamwera group, who began in 2020 growing potatoes, and are now being supported by Temwa with groundnut (peanut) production. The group has also benefited from business plan development and natural pesticide-making. 

With the support from the farmer group and Temwa, Willmott is now farming five acres of land with different crops such as groundnuts, maize and cassava. In diversifying his crops, he is making sure that, even if one crop fails, he will still have enough food. With this increased harvest, his family now enjoys a balanced diet and, using the profits, he has been able to improve his house and support his children through their secondary school education.  

“Organic farming is the way to go, growing groundnuts which don’t need fertiliser and using natural pesticides in crops such as maize and legumes saves the soils from degradation.” 

Willmott is hoping to expand his groundnut production along with the other group members and start processing the groundnuts into peanut butter. He plans to employ another community member to help his farming expansion.  

This time of cooperation is especially pressing as the country grapples with a severe drought crisis, exacerbated by the El Niño weather effect, which has disrupted rainfall patterns across the region.  This year’s drought has affected 23 out of the country’s 28 districts, prompting President Lazarus Chakwera to declare a state of disaster in March 2024. Over 2 million farming households have been impacted, with significant losses in staple crops like maize. The situation has left approximately 4.2 million people facing acute food insecurity, while an additional 6.7 million are experiencing stressed conditions. 

Watch Malawi’s Vice President Michael Usi address the COP29 climate summit where he explained how natural disasters such as floods, prolonged droughts and unpredictable weather patterns have destroyed lives and upended people’s livelihoods in the southern African nation. 

Read more about the Farming Futures Project in our latest report here.