Malawi: New agric project seeks improved food productivity

Last updated on September 11th, 2021 at 03:07 pm

Malawi President Peter Mutharika has launched a $95 million Agriculture Commercialization (AGCOM) project which seeks to improve productivity and diversify both food and export base of the country for a period of six years from 2020 to 2025.Speaking during the launch of a project in the capital Lilongwe on Friday, the president said the program will transform the agricultural smallholder sub sector from currently subsistence to commercial orientation.
“The project is a game changer for our country because it will totally transform a large number of people mainly in the rural areas. Empowering the communities with agriculture commercialization is a major step in the development if this nation,” he said.
He advised communities to begin to industrialize by creating wealth and jobs for themselves using the programs in order to take Malawi from poverty to prosperity.
The president said through the project farmers in organized associations will have access to financing, well structured markets and improved feeder roads.
Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development, Kondwani Nankhumwa said the project will increase commercialization of agricultural value chain products of farms and agribusiness.
“Producers under the project will strictly be producing for markets with clear understanding of the market’s quality demands and ready off- takers to absorb what is produced.
The project will build smallholder associations into vibrant cooperatives in order to establish and enforce business mindset, he said.
However, he said, by the end of the project, at least 300 productive alliances will be established and plan to graduate over 600,000 small and medium scale farmers.