The poor condition of the Tsangano turn-off-Neno- Mwanza road is driving thousands of farmers in villages along the road back into poverty in spite of their hard work in their fields, The Daily Times has established.<\/p>\n
Located along the border between Malawi and Mozambique, the villages lie in a fertile belt that produces a number of crops, predominantly Irish potatoes.<\/p>\n
The area is considered a major supplier of the crop to major markets such as Tsangano turn-off and Lizulu along the M1 Road and beyond.<\/p>\n
On our visit last weekend to Kambilonjo Trading Centre, the first of such centres located about 20km away from Tsangano turn-off, we found what a tall order it is for farmers to transport their yields to the main markets.<\/p>\n
The route is serviced by trucks which transport people and goods. Drivers spoken to along the route said if the road was in a good condition, they would charge around K500\/per bag of Irish potato.<\/p>\n
But they charge between K1,200 and K1,500 per bag from Kambilonjo to Tsangano turn-off, with the price rising for farmers located further down the corridor.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a huge sacrifice for us to ply this route. We charge these prices when transporting people\u2019s produce because the wear and tear is so high due to the poor condition of this road,\u201d said one driver, Alekeni Nantibule.<\/p>\n
At this time of the year, the road is a mush of dust, so travellers take with them extra clothes.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce we get to Tsangano turn-off, we change clothes so that we look presentable. We also ask for water to clean ourselves,\u201d said Meliya Chinsanya who we travelled with in a lorry to Kambilonjo on Saturday.<\/p>\n
In rainy season, people take along blankets as it is highly likely their truck will get stuck on the way and rescue can take days or even a week.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s how torturous it is to be a farmer here especially when you seek better prices. To avoid such troubles, most farmers sell their crop to unscrupulous buyers who pay peanuts, which leaves us in perpetual poverty,\u201d said Charles Kabango, chairperson of a cooperative of 365 Irish potato farmers in the area.<\/p>\n
When the farmers take their crop to the major trading centres, they fetch between K18, 000 and K22, 000 per bag depending on demand and supply.<\/p>\n
But when they sell it within their areas, they earn between K12, 000 and K15, 000 per bag.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can we beat poverty like that?\u201d Kabango wondered.<\/p>\n
Incidentally, the road has been in government and donors\u2019 books among those earmarked for rehabilitation.<\/p>\n
Former president Bingu wa Mutharika used to speak of the plans of his administration to upgrade the Chapananga-Mwanza-Neno-Ntcheu road to an all-weather link.<\/p>\n
In 2009, the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) approved US$36 million loan to Malawi for improvement of several roads in the country.<\/p>\n
Part of the money was to be spent on feasibility and detailed engineering design of this road.<\/p>\n
In its May 22, 2009 press release on the loan, the AfDB said:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Ntcheu-Tsangano-Neno- Mwanza road will serve the south-western part of the country renowned for its agricultural potential. The feasibility study will determine the most economic option for upgrading the road, detailed engineering design and preparation of bidding documents.\u201d<\/p>\n
The road also makes the Ntcheu- Tsangano-Mwanza development corridor which was the target of the US$40 million Infrastructure Service Programme (ISP) supported by the World Bank and implemented between 2011 and 2013.<\/p>\n
But people along the route are unlikely to be bailed out of their misery any time soon, if Minister of Transport Francis Kasaila\u2019s comment is anything to go by.<\/p>\n
Kasaila said yesterday he was not aware of the AfDB loan for the project.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we do have plans to upgrade it. We had some Chinese company which did some studies there but we are yet to identify resources to carry out the actual works,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The poor condition of the Tsangano turn-off-Neno- Mwanza road is driving thousands of farmers in villages along the road back into poverty in spite of their hard work in their fields, The Daily Times has established. Located along the border between Malawi and Mozambique, the villages lie in a fertile belt that produces a number […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7060,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7056"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7061,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7056\/revisions\/7061"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}