By Our Reporter
An inaugural roots and tubers crops food and products festival opens tomorrow by the Ministry of Agriculture and local and international partners in Lilongwe to exhibit and disseminate the potential and advances of roots and tubers value chains in Malawi.
Minister of Agriculture Lobin Clarke Lowe will inaugurate the day long Root and Tuber Crops (RTC) Products and Food Festival on Saturday, 28th November 2020 Lilongwe City Mall’s Game Stores Car Park platform
“The goal is to contribute towards elevating roots and tubers for their potential for sustainable food and nutritional security, as a potential sustainable industrial use option as well as a huge potential for investment at national and international levels,” says Patrick Zgambo Communications Officer for the Root and Tuber Crops Development Trust (RTCDT), lead organisers of the festival.
Malawi’s lead roots and tuber value chains are Cassava, Sweet Potatoes and Potatoes that the Ministries of health and agriculture have been fronting as a viable option to the country’s traditional staples of maize and rice.
A statement from the organisers says the national Root and Tuber Crops (RTC) Products and Food Festival will be centered around a full day open air roots and tubers value chains products and Food exhibition and demonstration pavilions event in Lilongwe that will be open to the public and graced by high profile guests, endorsers and media.
“The festival is to showcase multiple home uses/forms of RTCs through existing technologies for dynamic food and nutritional security, therefore create demand for RTCs in Malawi,” adds the statement.
The festival has been created to provide a national platform to showcase RTCs potential as sustainable, dynamic and rich foods and nutritional security option for home users and therefore increase demand for RTCs.
The festival, according to Zgambo, will showcase industrial, value adding and market potential of RTCs focusing on related processing initiatives by local commercial and smallholder entrepreneurs feeding into major sustainable large-scale production lines in Malawi and abroad, therefore create demand for RTCs.
“At this open edutainment full day open air and in-store roots and tubers value chains products and Food exhibition and demonstration event, RTC products and foods will be showcased through preparation, display, sampling, sale and/or exhibition,” added Zgambo.
At the roots and tubers will be displayed for their resistance in face of climate change climate change, diversity in nutrition and multiple domestic and industrial potential use that is not normally underutilised in Malawi
The inaugural Root and Tuber Crops (RTC) Products and Food Festival has been organized by the RTCDT and Ministry of Agriculture and has been made possible with financial support from Irish Aid, the International Potato Centre (CIP), the African Development Bank and IFAD.