One step up and two steps back

It’s always good to be back in Malawi and I’m looking forward to the next couple of weeks of planning, visiting our projects and supporting our staff team. You are always assured of a warm welcome in Malawi and this time was no exception. However, the day after I arrived there was very unwelcome news: the Reserve Bank has devalued the Malawi Kwacha by 25%. Malawi has suffered ever since the pandemic with shortages in foreign currency reserves and the most obvious sign of this has been the fuel shortages over the last year or so. The devaluation is designed to shore up these reserves but the effect is that imported goods become much more expensive.

This unwelcome development affects everyone, and is an additional challenge for us. We buy locally produced goods whenever we can but we still need to import a large amount of goods – steel and polythene for greenhouses; solar water pumps; seeds and fertilisers. Increased prices for us means that we have to charge more to farmers when we sell to them, so everyone suffers.

As always in Malawi, there is a mix of good and bad news. On the same day as the bad news about the currency, it was hugely encouraging to give a presentation about our greenhouse work to staff from GIZ in Europe and Africa. GIZ is the German Government Development Agency and they provided support to help establish our greenhouse project at Chintheche on the shores of Lake Malawi. It is a tribute to the women growing tomatoes in those greenhouses that GIZ chose that project to highlight as a success story – they funded 55 projects and only two were chosen as case studies!

Last week, before I got here, the team had one of their regular Open Days to showcase all our products and expertise. There were large crowds of farmers there, along with media and government officials. MBC (Malawi Broadcasting Corporation) camera crews were there, and we are definitely punching above our weight in terms of farming technology and modern farming methods. Despite the macro economic challenges, we will continue to do what we do best – bringing Good News to the poor.