{"id":76405,"date":"2019-04-04T03:21:30","date_gmt":"2019-04-04T01:21:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.times.mw\/?p=76405"},"modified":"2019-04-04T03:21:30","modified_gmt":"2019-04-04T01:21:30","slug":"tobacco-farmers-urged-to-diversify","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/2019\/04\/04\/tobacco-farmers-urged-to-diversify\/","title":{"rendered":"Tobacco farmers urged to diversify"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em>By Sharon Chirwa:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_76409\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-76409\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.times.mw\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/tobacco-field.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-76409\" src=\"http:\/\/www.times.mw\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/tobacco-field-300x134.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"134\" srcset=\"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/tobacco-field-300x134.jpg 300w, https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/tobacco-field-768x342.jpg 768w, https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/tobacco-field.jpg 820w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-76409\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">ALTERNATIVE\u2014Trial field of soya beans varieties\u2014Picture curtsey of ATI<br \/>of the statement<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>An international microfinance non-profit organisation, Opportunity International, in partnership with Agricultural Transformation Initiative (ATI), has launched a programme aimed at helping tobacco growers to diversify their production.<\/p>\n<p>A pilot phase of the programme is underway in Mchinji and Lilongwe districts.<\/p>\n<p>Through the programme, the two institutions would be providing technology-enhanced finance and training extensions for tobacco farmers.<\/p>\n<p>The firm says the move attempts to find a lasting remedy for the global <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quit.org.au\/news\/powerful-new-anti-smoking-campaign-highlights-reality-smoking-and-stroke\/\">anti-smoking<\/a> campaign.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement issued Wednesday, the firm says the programme would help targeted farmers access cheaper capital.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201cThe programme addresses capital and resource barriers, access and training for alternative value chains, development of business plans, and gender challenges for women smallholder farmers\u201d<\/em>, reads part of the statement.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The pilot programme is also aimed at increasing supply and demand of alternative crops and provide access to capital for farmers and will enable them extend their businesses.<\/p>\n<p>Opportunity International Head of Agriculture, Tim Strong, said female tobacco farmers face the most challenges as they have insufficient access to loans and lack representation in contract farming.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201cFarmer voice and farmer choice underpin our work and, together with our partners, we look forward to co-investing with our clients, their families, and their communities to share risk in uncertain market time,\u201d<\/em> Strong said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>ATI Country Director, Candida Nankhuma, said the company is committed to supporting efforts of smallholder tobacco farmers to diversify their crop.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201cOpportunity International has successfully developed initiatives that benefit farmers, and this partnership will allow us to provide new and innovative solutions to tobacco farming communities in Malawi,\u201d<\/em> Nankhumwa said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Sharon Chirwa: An international microfinance non-profit organisation, Opportunity International, in partnership with Agricultural Transformation Initiative (ATI), has launched a programme aimed at helping tobacco growers to diversify their production. A pilot phase of the programme is underway in Mchinji and Lilongwe districts. Through the programme, the two institutions would be providing technology-enhanced finance and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76405","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=76405"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76410,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76405\/revisions\/76410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}