Agriculture Minister Kawale commends Morocco for continued support towards Malawi’s food security

Agriculture Minister Sam Kawale with his counterpart Professor Mohamed Sadiki

* Towards cooperation in trade, agriculture, education, health and cultural exchanges

* The agreements are aimed at enhancing collaboration and promote mutual benefits between the two countries

By Timothy Kateta

Minister of Agriculture, Sam Kawale has commended Morocco for supporting Malawi’s agriculture sector towards the country’s agenda of achieving food security and increased production for commercial purposes.

Kawale said Malawi will always remain grateful for its unwavering support, saying: “I was pleased to meet my counterpart Professor Mohamed Sadiki, who is Minister of agriculture, maritime fisheries, rural development, water & forests on the sidelines of a meeting in Marrakech, where we discussed several bilateral arrangements between the two countries.”

He further announced that the two countries have engaged in bilateral agreements and cooperation in various fields such as trade, agriculture, education, health and cultural exchanges — aimed at enhancing collaboration and promote mutual benefits.

“It is for this reason that Morocco donated 10,000 MT of MoP that we blended to make 52,000 MT of NPK during last year’s AIP. I therefore took my time to thank the government of Morocco for this kind gesture.”

Kawale also revealed that he has extended an invitation to the Moroccan Minister of Agriculture Sadiki to visit Malawi with a team of investors to look at the opportunities in Malawi for crop, livestock production, value addition, mechanisation and the whole value chain in the agriculture sector.

“We also discussed how Malawi and Morocco can continue to be active participants in regional and international organizations, such as the African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN) since our relationship is also influenced by our engagements within these organizations.”

This discussion took place on the sideline of the 2nd African and 1st South-South health harm reduction conference which was held in Morocco, which ended on Friday.

Meanwhile, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, President Lazarus Chakwera — who is expected to return home on Monday — held a number of official bilateral engagements with fellow Heads of State and heads of international institutions aiming at strengthening diplomatic and trade ties.

A report by Malawi News Agency (MANA) said Chakwera he held a meeting with Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organisations on Saturday and was quoted as saying his administration is committed to strengthen its relationship with Israel for inclusive and sustainable development.

Chakwera told the grouping’s delegation of the need to join hands and collaborate as Malawi is making efforts to finding practical solutions to recover from Cyclone Freddy devastation which affected the country early this year.

He stressed the need for partners to continue supporting Malawi to build resilience against climate shocks.

“Some of the practical solutions will require the interventions and relations which Malawi has built over time with Israel and multilateral institutions to facilitate the quick recovery and reconstruction,” he is quoted as saying.

The Conference of the Presidents of Major Jewish Organisations was established in 1955 with the aim of giving the Jewish communities and other countries a voice.

On his part, the Conference’s Chief Executive Officer William Daroff said there is a need for Malawi to seriously consider investing heavily in irrigation farming as it has potential to boost the country’s food security that will translate into meaningful development.

Daroff commended Malawi Government for the establishment of mega farms, saying the initiative is the solution to ending food insecurity in Malawi.

“We need to collaborate and coordinate and build resilient food systems and invest in agriculture sector which has potential to transform people’s lives and achieving sustainable development goals,” he said.

Daroff said Israel and Malawi have maintained cordial relations defined by the outcomes that benefit the two nations in areas of agriculture, water and health — hence the need to deepen the ties.

Minister of Natural Resources & Climate Change, Michael Usi said Israel is geared to explore ways on how best irrigation farming would be enhanced in the country.—Additional reporting by Lisa Kadango-Malango, MANA