By Vincent Nhlema
In 2018, Luwiza Petulo, a 56yr old female farmer, from Chiphala Village, Traditional Authority (T/A) Zulu in Mchinji District, decided to learn how to read, write and calculate, when the National Smallholder Farmers’ Association of Malawi (NASFAM) introduced some adult literacy and numeracy lessons in her area, with support from the Egmont Trust.
Each passing day, thousands of charcoal bags enter the main cities and towns of Malawi. One would think such people have personal woodlots from which they cut down trees for charcoal production. Unfortunately, they do not.
South Africa-based World Farmers Organisation (WFO), Dr. Theo de Jager, has challenged the Malawi Government to incentivise the agriculture sector in order to attract youth involvement in food production and value chain initiatives.
Jager, who is also a farmer in his own capacity, made the remarks in his keynote address at the 23rd Annual General Meeting (AGM) and launch of the National Smallholder Farmers’ Association of Malawi (NASFAM) five year Strategic Development Plan in Lilongwe on 27 January 2020, held under the theme: Building a Sustainable Agribusiness that Delivers Value and Creates Impact. The meeting drew farmer participants from across the country.
The German Ambassador to Malawi, His Excellency Jürgen T. Borsch, on Froday, 24th April, 2020, made a symbolic presentation of COVID-19 prevention materials to NASFAM in a bid to help smallholder farmers protect themselves from the pandemic.
Our farmers need to be empowered to produce sufficient quantities; and there must be an enabling environment to promote agricultural trade.
- Dr Felix Lombe, African Institute for Corporate Citizenship (AICC) CEO
On Tuesday, 17 September the Civil Society Agriculture Network (CISANET) had a highly interactive dinner meeting with the new Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture at BICC in Lilongwe. The meeting aimed at introducing the Network to the committee and establish a working relationship with the members. Over 60 people, representing different actors in the agriculture sector, attended the meeting. These included leaders of the committee and their members, senior officials from a cross section of international and local Civil Society Organisations as well as other key stakeholders in the agriculture sector such as representatives from UN agencies, the private sector, and the media.