* The Ministry has liaised with Pyxus Holdings, Paramount Holdings, Nasfam, ADMARC and National Food Reserve Agency
* Pyxus Holdings will be buying a lot of groundnuts; Paramount Holdings to concentrate on soya
* NASFAM will be buying maize, beans, groundnuts and chilli which will be value added for export
By Monica Tambala, MANA
Minister of Agriculture, Sam Kawale has assured farmers of government’s commitment to provide markets for them to sell their farm produce at profitable rates come harvest season.
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Kawale said farmers need not worry nor sell their produce to vendors who dupe them by buying at very cheap prices the Ministry has liaised with Pyxus Holdings, Paramount Holdings, Nasfam, ADMARC and National Food Reserve Agency to buy the farm produce once harvested.
He made the assurance during Speaking during an inspection tour of NEEF farm input loan beneficiary progress, saying government is ensuring safety of farmers through provision of loans through NEEF, provision of cash for sustainability as well as provision of permanent markets for farmers to sale their produce.
He added that through agricultural input programme (AIP), mega farms and the NEEF intervention there is going to be a lot of production happening: “Government cannot absorb everything at once — that is why we are partnering with Pyxus which will be buying a lot of groundnuts across the country.
Sam Kawale
“We are also partnering with Paramount Holdings to buy soya while NASFAM will be buying maize, beans, groundnuts and chilli which will be value added for export.”
Kawale added that the main goal of all the interventions that the Ministry is undertaking is to make sure that farmers are well taken care of and are able to transition from AIP into more commercialised farming.
One of the beneficiaries, Henderson Mwavuli of Group Village Head Mayola in Mchinji took a K12 million farm input loan to venture into tobacco farming and he expressed optimism of his future profits as he has already bought a solar water pump, bred broiler chickens as well as planted 15 acres of maize and 5.5 acres of tobacco.
He said the new loan programme has the capacity to change the face of agriculture productivity in Malawi if more farmers access the loan and farm at a larger scale.
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“I thank government for giving us loans through NEEF which will help us change our productivity. This new intervention can help move farmers from AIP as many will prefer to take loans and farm on a larger scale rather than fight for two bags of fertiliser.
“All this can happen if the procedures of taking loans are fair for everyone. Government needs to come in and assist on making softer loan requirements,” Mwavuli said.
Present was Minister of Finance & Economic Affairs, Simplex Chithyola Banda, who said he will appeal to his fellow Members of Parliament to make sure that NEEF gets more funding so that many farmers can access farm input loans for food security and economic boost in Malawi.
After this tour, Minister Kawale also visited Vikuyu and Kasungu Agro Wealth Creation Cooperatives in Kasungu to appreciated progress being undertaken by beneficiaries of Agriculture Commercialisation and Mechanisation (AGCOM) project — and advised the farmers there and those across the country to invest more in irrigation if they are to improve their productivity.
Kawale emphasised that farmers should not only rely on rain-fed agriculture, saying: “We have experienced floods and drought in some parts of the country which have reduced crop harvest.
“That is why we introduced the NEEF agriculture loans, grants in AGCOM and loans in mega farms. We are encouraging every person who has access to land that has water, to use the loan to invest in irrigation.”
The Minister said now is the time farmers should start harvesting three times a year through the use of rivers, dams and lakes: “Malawi has a lot of water that we are supposed to utilize. We have been blessed so let us use the blessing by investing in irrigation.”
Kawale was confident that irrigation and use of idle arable land would assist in sustaining food security in the country as farmer’s productivity would improve.
On his part, the area’s host, Member of Parliament for Kasungu East, Madalitso Kazombo commended government for its commitment in supporting farmers in the country and also emphasized on the need for awareness so that as many farmers as possible reap benefits from the projects.
Government has invested K500 billion in AGCOM, K20 billion in mega farms and K17 billion in NEEF.—Additional reporting by Moses Nyirenda
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