Bagging Savings: Accelerating Impact With PICS Bags to Protect Harvests and Farmers' Livelihoods

Every harvest season in Malawi, the impact of crop losses is felt by farmers, who rely on their harvests for survival. The floors of grain warehouses tell a grim tale: mountains of maize, beans or groundnuts devoured by tiny, relentless pests. At the national level, the Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMARC) loses millions of Malawian Kwachas in food reserves. Whilst for the government food loss equals forex losses, for farmers like Charles Banda from Lilongwe, the losses hit home in a more personal way.

“I used to watch weevils destroy half of my harvest,” Charles recalls with frustration. The chemicals I bought were expensive, mostly fake and they made my family cough. It felt like we were farming for the pests, not for ourselves.”