From Hives to Harvests: How Youth and Women Are Rewriting Agriculture in Champhira

In Champhira, Mzimba, the air hums steadily with the low sound of bees. Beneath the shade of Msangu trees, young farmer Levi Kaunda gently lifts a frame of honeycomb from a hive. His movements are careful and calm. For him, the bees are more than just insects; they are teachers.

“These are God-given, and there are a lot of lessons we can learn from bees,” he says. “When you look at bees, they do a lot of work and also with calm, something that we as humans sometimes fail to do, to carry out our work with calm and hard work, and with time and togetherness.”

Levi is a member of the Zandonda and Tupwenge cooperatives in Champhira Extension Planning Area, under the Traditional Authority Mwabulabo. He is among the young farmers whose lives have been transformed through the Empowering Women and Youth in Agriculture (EWAYA) project, implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture in partnership with UNDP and FAO, and funded by the Government of Flanders. EWAYA aims to empower women and young people to treat agriculture as a business and to build sustainable livelihoods in Mzimba and Kasungu Districts.

A New Mindset for Youth and Women

Before EWAYA, Levi recalls, youth were rarely invited into leadership or decision-making. Farming felt like something left for older generations.

“We are grateful for the EWAYA project — it has helped us a lot as it has been different from other projects,” he explains. “Other projects did not focus on women and youth. As you know, our country’s population is mostly women and youth, so when making decisions, it is important that they take part. With the coming in of this project EWAYA, it has helped us a lot as women and youth.”

Through the project, Levi and other young farmers have taken leading roles in their cooperatives, managing hives, organising meetings, and keeping production records. The training has also changed how they relate to the environment.

“Youth were not considered for decision-making or leading roles,” he says. “But with EWAYA, through the trainings, we have learnt that youth can be leaders and take part. We, the youth, have taken leading roles in our groups and in honey production, which also helps conserve the environment we used to destroy. With this project, we are now helping to conserve it. The same with women — in the past they were sidelined, but now they are taking part in decision-making and leadership.”

Farming as a Business

EWAYA teaches practical entrepreneurship — marketing, bookkeeping, and value addition. Levi remembers how they used to sell honey in old bottles, unaware of hygiene or branding standards.

“This project has benefited us a lot,” he says. “We have been taught how to keep bees, and from this farming, we get a lot of benefits. At first, we thought it was just honey we got, but we have also learnt that we can make manure and wax, which we sell to our friends.”

“We have been given machines which help us hygienically harvest honey, so our customers are satisfied. In the past, we used to harvest it from used bottles, but with the coming of this project, we have moved away from that. We have learnt that we must package our honey in well-labelled and clean bottles that indicate what is inside so that our customers should not have any doubts.”

For the first time, the cooperatives are now producing, processing, and packaging their honey locally, an important step towards scaling up.

“Looking forward, we really want to sell our products in large outlets since we can harvest and package in a hygienic manner and sell in towns to make more profits,” Levi says. “We have put in place measures to ensure that when the project phases out, we continue. We will take care of the materials we have received and use them for a long time, and the training will help us to continue.”

He pauses, then adds quietly:

“I am different now. I have gained skills from this project. We are moving with Vision 2063, which we want to achieve by making farming a business. We are encouraging youth to change their mindset, and this project is doing that.”

Veronica’s Field of Hope

A short walk away, in Msontha Village, Veronica Nyirongo tends to two goats grazing beside her garden. She smiles when she speaks of them — they represent her progress.

“My friends had livestock and I wanted to have my own, but the means to get them could not be found,” she says. “But with the coming in of EWAYA in 2024, they came with beans. At Tupenge Cooperative, there were 30 of us, and everyone received eight kilograms of beans and five kilograms of fertiliser. I planted in my garden, applied fertiliser, and the beans did well. I harvested three buckets and sold two of them. After selling, I bought two goats, as you can see.”

Generous by nature, she also shared her harvest.

The other bucket I shared with two of my farming friends — I gave them five kilograms each, while I kept ten kilograms, which I planted again. Looking at EWAYA, I can say it has benefited me. I managed to buy goats, which I didn’t have before. I used to envy my friends, but now I even have chickens. With the last harvest, I have many chickens at home,” she says.

Her confidence grew through training sessions organised under the project.

“During trainings, they taught us to follow modern farming techniques and apply the fertiliser received, but also practice crop rotation,” she says. “Right now, I have planted beans again in my garden, and I want to buy fertiliser to apply so I can harvest more.”

For Veronica, women’s participation is essential.

“It is important that women take part in this project. It is us who encounter problems most of the times. That is why we meet at the cooperative with the same goal, to make sure everyone takes part in the business.”

She looks around at her goats and chickens and sums it up simply.

“I am just grateful for the project of EWAYA. I would not have had the goats or chickens — I would still be envying my friends. But since I decided to take part in the project, that is why the goats are there, yes.”

Stronger Farmers, Better Futures

Across Mzimba and Kasungu, EWAYA is now supporting more than 1,400 farmers, 73 per cent of them women and youth. Through 14 Farmer Organizations, the project is strengthening value chains in honey, beans, tomatoes, and poultry, while helping farmers adopt climate-smart agriculture — from organic manure to improved seed varieties and sustainable irrigation.

Extension officers trained under the project are guiding farmers to treat agriculture as an enterprise, linking them to markets, and promoting the Smallholder Horticulture Empowerment and Promotion (SHEP) approach, which identifies markets before production.

These initiatives are contributing to Malawi 2063’s vision of inclusive wealth creation and sustainable agriculture. Communities like Champhira are now seeing youth step into leadership, women reinvest in their households, and families practise conservation farming that restores the environment.

“We are changing our mindset,” Levi says. “We are now seeing farming as business, not just survival. And we are doing it together, men, women, and youth.”

Partnerships That Make the Difference

The transformation in Champhira shows the strength of teamwork. The EWAYA project is carried out by the Ministry of Agriculture, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) funded by the Government of Flanders. 

Together, these partners are making sure that smallholder farmers, especially women and youth, acquire the skills, tools, and opportunities they need to thrive. As the sun sets behind the Mzimba hills, Levi seals another jar of golden honey and smiles. 

“Farming is our business now,” Levi says. “The bees are our teachers, and the land is our classroom.”

About EWAYA

The Empowering Women and Youth in Agriculture (EWAYA) project is implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture, in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with funding from the Government of Flanders. It strengthens agricultural value chains in Mzimba and Kasungu, helping women and youth to increase productivity, add value, and access profitable markets.

EWAYA is part of Malawi’s journey toward Malawi 2063 — Agricultural Productivity and Commercialisation, ensuring that every farmer, like Levi and Veronica, can turn effort into enterprise and hope into growth.