Tobacco is Malawi’s primary export crop, produced by both commercial and peasant farmers. Robert Manyungwa of Malawi’s Chief Nankumba in Mangochi district is one of the small-scale farmers losing hard earned revenues from their gardens because of expensive transport expenses along the Chantulo to Mkutumula road.

“I grow tobacco, maize, tomatoes, and other vegetables,” he grows the crops twice a year, during both rainy and winter seasons.

Robert and others use the Chantulo-Mkutumula road to transport agricultural produce to upland markets like Balaka, Blantyre and Ntcheu covering over 200 kilometers. But limited options of transport result in higher transport costs for the produce, which reduces the farmers’ income.

However, this is about to change as this road is among the four roads to be upgraded to tarmac after the Malawi government secured a US$350 million from the US government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation.

While the Malawi Government’s Millennium Challenge Account-Malawi II #MCAMwII will handle the construction works.

The news has enthralled Robert and many others. “The current road is in bad state, especially during the rainy season when it becomes almost impassable, illegal vendors take advantage of this to flood our areas and offer us below market prices.”

He added, “I am pleased that we will have faster, more reliable and less expensive access to the marketplaces such as Phirilongwe, Chilipa, and Balaka. I also believe that a journey that costs K5,000 will then reduce to around K3,000 since there will be more and various means of transportation.”

Malawi’s Roads Authority, a statutory corporation mandated to ensure that public roads are constructed, maintained and rehabilitated always estimates that out of the country’s 15,451 km (about 9600.81 mi) road network, only 26 percent are paved.