Kambauwa-Wirima pleads with FAO to provide more support to Malawi
Deputy Minister of Agriculture Madalitso Kambauwa-Wirima has pleaded with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations to provide more financial support to the Malawi Government.
Kambauwa-Wirima made the plea when she met FAO Director General, Dr. Qu Dongyu, on the sidelines of the 32nd FAO Regional Conference for Africa held from 11-14 April 2022 in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.
She told Dongyu that as a developing nation, Malawi needs a lot of support to grow her agriculture sector, which is the country’s mainstay of the economy.
Speaking to Nyasa Times on Sunday, the deputy minister described her engagement with the FAO head was fruitful as through that Malawi will develop and submit a formal proposal to FAO for more support in the
country’s agricultural transformation agenda.
“I put it through to the Director General that we are looking forward to more cooperation more especially where FAO can give us technical expertise in the field of agricultural commercialization which is very key if we are to take our agriculture to the next level. Another area that we sort technical support from FAO is in the area of irrigation and I’m glad to report that we had a positive feedback and all that remains is for the Ministry to put together a proposal highlighting all the support that we need as a ministry,” said Kambauwa-Wirima.
According to Wirima, Dongyu, made a commitment to support Malawi in its endeavours to develop the agricultural sector to ensure food security for the country.
The four-day continental meet in Equatorial Guinea was held under four overarching thematic areas focusing on Better Nutrition, Better Production, Better Environment and Better Life for All.
Wirima informed the gathering that Malawi was taking strategic steps to transform the agriculture sector.
“The Government of Malawi is using a number of strategies and plans including the COVID-19 Socio-Economic Recovery Plan (2021-2023) to accelerate economic recovery in the agriculture sector. Let me also
inform this conference that Malawi is also making efforts to improve data management for decision-making in the agriculture sector through a project called National Agriculture Management Information System (NAMIS) that focuses on agriculture data collection, analysis, data communication and information sharing using modern ICT tools.
“Satellite based aerial crop monitoring and GIS image processing technology will be incorporated in order to enhance the efficiency of data capturing and collection.”
In an interview with this publication, Wirima said COVID 19 impact on impact on agro food systems in Africa, policy priorities for inclusive and resilient recovery, investing in eco systems restoration for a more efficient inclusive resilient and sustainable agro-food system transformation in Africa, promotion of investment and trade for competitive agri-food systems in Africa.
Wirima further said that the ministers among others also agreed to place women, youth and the poor in the forefront of the development and implementation of these systems.
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security and organizes such meetings to among others share experiences for better planning and execution of various programmes.
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