£10,000 to help farmers in Malawi

FIVE churches in Argyll have raised £10,000 to help farmers Malawi produce a more abundant harvest.

The money will be used to fund the the Seed for Life project, which was organised by the Luing, Seil, Kilninver, Kilmelford and Craignish Netherlorn Churches.

The project, which came to be after two people from Malawi visited Scotland, will see the farmers provided with higher quality seeds and fertiliser.

Dave Alsop, of Seed for Life, said: ‘Two representatives came here last year, when the church funded the visit, and then after they discussed the way they lived over there and we asked if there was anything we could assist with and they came back with this project.

‘We should help 1,800 individuals, including the 1,200 children who are going to get an extra meal. It’s a pilot project at the moment, so they can buy seeds and fertiliser.

‘They plant in November and harvest in March or April. So by April we should know how successful this has been.

‘They have never really been able to afford a decent seed to plant. We are going for a quality seed. So hopefully they should see the benefit of a much better yield.’

A percentage of the harvest will be paid back to the organising committee in Bemvu to ensure that the fund is self-generating, and an additional percentage will be donated to the local primary school for extra meals during term time.

The group already has a partnership with 26 villages in Malawi called the Bemvu Mission, which sees them send £1,000 per year to assist ‘vulnerable widows’.

Mr Alsop added: ‘The situation with food can be critical.

‘This year is not too bad because the harvest was reasonably good, but most years they have no food security at all. They are living with their families in small houses which are basically only used for sleeping in.

‘This is hopefully going to give them food security. They will be running this by themselves, for themselves. It should give the school children at least one meal a day – another meal that they would not have got.’

To find out more, or to donate to the project, visit www.seedforlife.org.uk