FAIR TRADE PREMIUM FOOD SECURITY SUPPORT - LEADS TO BUMPER MAIZE HARVEST

It is maize harvesting time in the Southern Region of Malawi. In Thyolo people are now busy harvesting their maize from gardens. But the story is a bit different around Satemwa Estate especially to those who applied a basal dressing of 23:21:0 + 4S fertiliser sold out to workers of Satemwa Tea Estate at a slightly subsidised price.
One worker (Mr.Chimwala) I spoke to had this to say, ''Fertiliser are fertilisers but not all fertiliser are the same''. Several other workers are all smiles and thanks to Fair trade due to such livelihood support projects. The meaning here is that this particular product was quite different from other fertilisers of the same brand. The JB made sure to procure the fertiliser from a reputable source hence the utility realised was quite rewarding. comperatively people have harvested more than their last year harvest and the attribute is going to serveral factors: 1. The timely acquisition of the basal fertiliser, 2. The quality of the fertiliser. "We have managed to harvest more maize due to Fair trade support", is what most workers are saying. The issue here is that fertiliser is the most scare and unaffordable farm input to local farmers.Sometimes one would get it later than required, when the maize has passed the stage requiring such a product. Since maize is a fast and short period growing crop by the time one raises funds to buy it. The provision of it to workers had eased the pressure and enable them to apply fertiliser timely while they softly repaid for it. For this to be sustained there is need for a continuous fair trade market so the premium continues to come.

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