Representative of the Special Programme in Agriculture Cohort one at Natural Resources College Salani Njaya said this on Sunday when he distributed assorted relief items to disaster affected families some of them smallholder tea farmers in the district.

He said the handouts cannot meet their livelihood needs.

 “I came here on behalf of the Special Programme in Agriculture Cohort one (2004 class) at Natural Resources College. As a group, we raised over K600, 000 through individual contributions and we bought maize flour, soya pieces, soap, sugar and salt which we distributed to these people,” said Njaya.

One of the affected farmers, William Phwitiko told Zodiak Online that it will take him years to restore his damaged tea fields.

“For years, I have been depending on tea as a source of income for my family but the cyclone destroyed much of my tea,” said Phwitiko.

Agnes Gomosi from Bona village in Traditional Authority Sunganinzeru thanked the group for the support.

Recently the Tea Association of Malawi Limited (TAML) disclosed that at least 100 hectares of tea was washed away by the Cyclone Freddy.