Minister Nankhumwa addresses AU agriculture gathering in Addis Ababa

Despite achievements made in agriculture, Malawi’s food security has been affected by climate change manifested by droughts and floods, Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development Kondwani Nankhumwa has said.

Nankhumwa at the Ministerial Session of the Third Session of the Third Ordinary Session of the African Union (AU) Specialized Technical Committee (STC) on Agriculture, Rural Development, Water and Environment in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Nankhumwa on group photo with other delegates

He was addressing a Ministerial Session of the Third Session of the Third Ordinary Session of the African Union (AU) Specialized Technical Committee (STC) on Agriculture, Rural Development, Water and Environment in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Friday, October 25, 2019.

“As a country we have not resigned to climate change fate as we are investing in resilience building to mitigate the effects of climate change now and in future,” said Nankhumwa.

The minister expressed Malawi Government’s “great pleasure” for being invited to participate in the meeting, emphasizing that Malawi is very committed to all AU Declarations as shown by aligning its agriculture development agenda and policy instruments to the CAADP, the Maputo (2003), and the Malabo (2014) Declarations.

“Allow me to express the Government of Malawi’s gratitude to the previous STC Bureau for their excellent performance and to Congratulate the current STC Bureau for being elected,” he said.

Nankhumwa said so far, Malawi had registered exceptional progress, which includes aligning of National Agriculture Policy (2016) and National Agriculture Investment Plan (2017) to all the continental agriculture development frameworks and instruments, allocating more financial resources to the sector in line with both the Maputo (2003) and Malabo (2014) Declarations consistently.

Among other issues he lauded Malawi for investing in irrigation, fisheries, aquaculture, crops, livestock, and water development.

Nankhumwa also pointed about the establishment of the Centre of Excellence in Aquaculture and Fisheries at the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, promoting youth and women empowerment programmes in agriculture, and strengthening capacity for the prevention and control of animal, plant diseases and pests of socio-economic importance.

He concluded by saying Malawi endorsed recommendations made by the STC on various subjects during the two-day high level summit.

Follow and Subscribe Nyasa TV :

Sharing is caring!

Follow us in Twitter
Read previous post:
Community blocks Chinese mining firm from taking mineral samples

Communities at Mbirima in Chitipa have vowed to stop a Chinese mining firm from collecting mineral samples unless they commit...

Close