Kawale, NASFAM brainstorm facilitation of special loans targeting smallholder farmers
Minister of Agriculture Sam Kawale has assured National Smallholder Farmers’ Association of Malawi (NASFAM) that his ministry would collaborate with funding baskets such as the National Economic Empowerment Fund (NEEF), Malawi Agriculture an Industry Investment Cooperative, FiNES Project and Agricultural Commercial (AGCOM) Project to extend the disbursement of their loans to smallholder farmers in the country.
Kawale was speaking over the weekend when he visited NASCOMEX Limited in Lilongwe to appreciate the strides the company is making in adding value to agricultural produce.
NASCOMEX Limited is the commercial arm of the National Smallholder Farmers’ Association of Malawi (NASFAM), which is an organization of farmers associations in Malawi.
Said Kawale: “We can sit down and discuss how farmers can access these loans. We can come up with an arrangement to enable your farmers to qualify for these loans. You’re helping the government to increase production, so we have to support you to increase production.”
Kawale’s remarks came after NASFAM Chief Executive Officer Betty Chinyamunyamu expressed that lack of startup capital and machinery has always been a major hindrance to farming business in the country.
Chinyamunyamu asked government to facilitate the introduction of loans targeting smallholder farmers in Malawi.
At the same event, Kawale also assured NASFAM sthat his ministry work hand-in-hand with farmer associations in addressing food insecurity by increasing and improving productivity.
He said that President Lazarus Chakwera values the agriculture sector as the engine for the social and economic development of this country.
He said it is against this background that Malawi leader initiated the Mega Farms Project as a vehicle for transforming smallholders into commercial farmers.
“The President wants the agriculture sector to grow very quickly. That’s why in most of his speeches, he challenges us, in the ministry, to work extra harder to ensure his dream of transforming this sector is realized,” he said.
Kawale challenged NASFAM to train and equip its farmer members with skills that can enable them to become business farmers.
“Time is past when you had to train farmers to do farming as business. Now it’s time to train and equip them to do farming business,” he emphasized.
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