The World Bank has approved a US$95 million (K69.7 billion at current exchange rate) credit which is expected to boost the country’s quality and quantity of various agricultural products for domestic and export markets. The credit targeting about 70,000 farmers and 300 producer organizations, has been approved under the Agriculture Commercialization Project (AGCOM), and it […]
Renowned agriculturist Felix Jumbe says Malawians have what it takes to boost the economic status only if farming families are oriented on Crop diversification saying it is an important mechanism for overall agriculture development in the country. Jumbe made the remarks on Thursday when the media toured his 20 Hectares of Sesame Crop in the […]
Malawi Congress Party (MCP) says the government’s programme of providing cheaper farm inputs to smallholder farmers has not produced results and is maintain that there should be universal subsidy program. MCP president the Reverend Lazarus Chakwera, who is also Leader of Opposition, told parliament that there should be an immediate stop to the current Farm Input Subsidy […]
Lack of huge investment in research and innovations towards the legumes subsector is stalling the growth of the industry in the country, agricultural experts say. The legume sub sector in Malawi has been billed as an alternative sector to the tobacco industry towards the economic growth of the nation. But low funding to academic and […]
Head of Agriculture Sector Wide Approach-support Project, (ASWAp), in the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development, Nelson Mataka has said overwhelming adoption of improved agriculture technologies by small holder farmers in Chitipa District is a great stride in efforts to drive farmers away from use of poor and archaic agriculture practices which are blamed […]
Peter Peter Mutharika has appointed Aggrey Massi, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security, as the deputy minister of of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development, Chief Secretary to the government Loyd Muhara said in a statement on Tuesday. Muhasa said in a statement made available to Nyasa Times that the appointment is “with immediate effect.” The […]
Farmers under various cooperatives in the districts of Phalombe and Zomba expect a bumper yield this year having applied Mbeya fertilizer in their fields. Mbeya fertilizer which is almost organic is made by mixing ashes, dung or any animal excretes urine for Urea and maize bran. According to Dinel Moses, Chairperson of jenera cooperative in […]
Malawi is expectedto register a higher maize out put that the year before with survey results showing that the countr’s staple grain will chalk 35.9 percent production gain but the nation is asked to celebrate maize estames with caution. The Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development on Thursday released the first round of 2016/17 […]
Some 300,000 smallholder households in Mchinji, Dedza, Ntcheu, Balaka, Machinga, Mangochi, Lilongwe rural and Blantyre rural are to benefit from an agriculture diversification project which aims at improving incomes, food production and nutrition uptake. The project, Feed the Future Malawi Ag Diversification Activity, is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The […]
Malawi Parliament’s Agriculture Committee on Wednesday visited the ministry of Agriculture offices at Capital Hill in Lilongwe and expressed concern over the colossal damage. The chairperson of the committee, Joseph Chidanti Malunga expressed shock at the damage, saying it would take time before the offices are rehabilitated and staff get back. He also said the […]
President Peter Mutharika says his government has put in place policies and programs that will see Malawi shifting from subsistence farming to agriculture for industrialization. This transpired during an audience the Head of State had with the visiting president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development(IFAD), Kanayo Nwanze at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe on Thursday. […]
Officials from the parliamentary inquiry on maizegate on Friday took on Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development Erica Maganga, accusing her of deliberately hiding crucial information on the procuremnt of Zambia maize. Maganga had told the inquiry that the ministry’s involvement in the procurement of the maize was minimal. The parliamentary […]
Six Lilongwe-based Ministry of Agriculture employees and truck driver are in police custody after the latter implicated the employees in stolen treadle pump parts worth half a million kwacha. Central Region Police Public Relations Officer, Supt. Nolliettie Chihana, confirmed the arrest of the seven suspects on Thursday and identified the first suspects, the truck driver, […]
Government of Malawi and the African Development Bank (ADB) Tuesday signed a loan agreement amounting to US$22.4(MK16.5Billion) to finance the agricultural infrastructure and agribusiness among the rural youth. Speaking at capita Hill in Lilongwe, Minister of Finance Economic Planning and Development, Goodall Gondwe said apart from empowering the country’s youth to venture into agribusiness, the […]
Subsistence farmers in central region are yet to plant after the onset of planting rains last week because of government failure to provide them with subsided farm inputs. Farmers in Ntchisi, Mchinji, Dowa, Lilongwe and other areas are yet to receive coupons which will earn them cheap maize and legumes seeds and fertilizer. “This is […]
Communities from Mpundi village in the area of Traditional Authority (T/A) Namabvi in Mangochi have said they have found gold in irrigation farming. The communities have owed this success story to Pemphero Community-Based Organization (CBO) for providing them with farm inputs and irrigation materials. “Unlike in the previous years when hunger used to bite us […]
President Prof Peter Mutharika has bemoaned the country’s 300,000 hectares of unexploited land for irrigation farming which has adverse effects on the country’s economy and food security. He made the disclosure at Bingu International Convention Centre, Wednesday, where he presided over the official launch of the National Agricultural Policy (NAP) which was launched concurrently with […]
Scientists from around the world have converged in Blantyre to discuss how they can save the Cassava Crop from diseases considering its potential in boosting the food and economic muscle among small holder farmers in most parts of Africa. The Africa Cassava Whitefly Project (ACWP) is a global scientific initiative where scientists are developing ways […]