News Details

LUANAR through a lead farmer programme supported by the Capacity Building for Managing Climate Change (CABMACC) organized a two-day training for graduate interns who are expected to train lead farmers in different districts where CABMACC is being implemented. The training which was conducted on 25th to 26th November 2016 saw eleven graduate interns from both Bunda and NRC campuses being mentored as trainer of trainers. According to one of the training facilitators, Mrs Sekanawo Kasiya, the training was aimed at building the capacity of the graduate interns to train lead farmers in the CABMACC project sites which include Phalombe, Balaka, Dedza, Nkhotakota, Mzimba and Rumphi. “The interns will be in the field for a period of six months, from November 2016 to May 2017. Mainly they will required to setup demonstration plots and train the lead farmers in various agricultural interventions and climate change mitigation and adaptation,” said Mrs Kasiya. She said the interns will among other things be responsible for monitoring activities of lead farmers and will have to capture data that will be used to evaluate the effective approaches used by lead farmers. The interns will also be expected to conduct research jointly with both lead farmers and their followers with the aim of developing a field manual. Complementing, Mrs Kasiya, Project Principal Investigator, Mrs Stella Kumwenda said the programme has come in because despite the concept of lead farmers been there for quite a long time, no one has followed up to see what exactly the farmers are doing. “In the end, it was discovered that the lead farmer initiative was not effective. Through this project, therefore, we are trying to find out what really the problem was,” said Mrs Kumwenda. One of the interns, Jasmeen Gongolo described the initiative as an opportunity to fulfill her dreams in contributing to climate change mitigation. “Climate change is real. I am very pleased that I will be among the team working hard to promote climate change mitigation and adaptation,” said Jasmeen. She said she believed that the training equipped her with essential skills necessary for training farmers. The skills acquired include; facilitation, communication and research skills. Apart from Mrs Kasiya and Mrs Kumwenda, other facilitators included Mr Davis Sibale from NRC Campus, Mr Blessings Susuwele from Department of Extension under Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development and Dr Sera Gondwe from Bunda Campus. Written By Patricia Nkhoma