An extension worker and a farmer from northern lakeshore District of Karonga have said subsistence farmers in the country must be empowered to take up large-scale mechanised farming and livestock production in order to improve their incomes and livelihoods. Charity Chimphamba Phiri and Knight Chambayika Mhango spoke at Kamuzu International Airport in the Capital Lilongwe […]
Scores of farmers in Chingale Extension Planning Area (EPA) in Zomba are improving their incomes and lives through various interventions that the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development are implementing in the area under the Strengthening Community Resilience to Climate Change project According […]
Seed Trade Association of Malawi (STAM) and the Fertilizer Association of Malawi (FAM) have hailed former Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development, Joseph Mwanamvekha for his excellent and exceptional contribution towards the sector during his term of office. STAM General Secretary, Nessimu Nyama made the recognition on Friday in Blantyre during a farewell dinner […]
Michigan State University (MSU) has received a $7.8 million (about K5.8billion) grant from the Agricultural Transformation Initiative (ATI) towards the promotion of agriculture in the country, especially smallholder farmers. Nyasa Times has learnt that MSU researchers received the grant to build an independent policy research institute in Malawi dedicated to improving the livelihoods of smallholder […]
Government has secured a K61 billion loan from World Bank to finance an Agricultural Commercialization Project (AGCOM) which will transform Malawi’s agriculture sector from predominantly peasant farming to commercial farming. Director of Planning and Development in the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development (MoAIWD), Alexa Namaona said AGCOM which is running for five years […]
Malawi is set to lose K100 billion in post crop harvest, according to some experts. Farmers Organisation Limited sales and marketing manager Ronald Chilumpha said a recently done survey by agricultural experts has put the post crop harvest losses at the staggering K100 billion. “This is a great loss. The losses will be incurred during […]
A strong appeal has gone out to farmers in Malawi’s southern district of Chiradzulu and other surrounding areas to be planting seeds which easily adapt to climate change. The southern region Bayer Crop Science Regional Sales Manager, Raphael Makaka, made the appeal during a field day visit at Male Village at Mbulumbuzi area in the district on Friday. […]
Malawi is still food secure depite natural disasters which hit the country as the crop production estimates project a 3555 000 metric tonnes (MT) maize surplus, according to figures from Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development. Floods hit the country – following the Cyclone Idai – sweeping a lot of crops especially maize. Speaking […]
Farmers in Kasungu have been told to embrace agricultural technologies if they are to have an enhanced food, nutrition and income security. Controller of Agricultural Services, Alexander Bulirani made the remarks recently during a Field Day organized by Kasungu Agriculture Development Division (KADD) at Lisasadzi Extension Planning Area in the district. According to Bulirani, there […]
Over 69,000 households in Malawi have benefited from the nutrition sensitive agriculture, which encourages farming of food crops that make up six food groups people in the country require to meet their daily nutritional needs. According to the government of Malawi, the country’s six food groups comprise legumes, vegetables, fats, animal source foods, staples and […]
Chief Agriculture Research Scientist on legumes in the Department for Agriculture Research Services (DARS), Laurent Pungulani has said new soya varieties being tried in the country under the Pan African Soybean Variety Program will help stimulate growth in the sector. Pungulani was speaking at Chitedze Research Station on Thursday when the institution hosted an open […]
Farmers in Lilongwe and Dedza Districts are all smiles following the performance of peacock seeds maize varieties in their farms this season. The Farmers excitement was shown few days ago during field days organized by Peacock seeds targeting areas of traditional authorities Kachele and Chilikumwendo in Dedza and also in the area of Traditional Authorities […]
Malawi Government has projected a maize surplus of 300 000 metric tonnes this year with first round crop estimates indicate that Malawi will harvest 3.3 million metric tonnes of maize in 2018/19. The the harvest is up from the final estimate of 2.6 million metric tonnes in 2017/18. Minister of Agriculture Joseph Mwanamvekha said the […]
Civil Society Agriculture Network (CISANET) has urged District Agricultural Development Offices (DADOs) to be transparent and accountable by involving stakeholders and non-state actors in the process of formulating agriculture budgets at the district level. CISANET Head of Programmes, Alfred Kambwiri, made the remarks in Mchinji when he made a presentation on recently launched National Agriculture […]
Seed companies in the country say despite efforts to end the problem of fake seed on the market, the issue is still persisting mainly because of agro-dealers. The complaints are contained in a report titled the African Seed Access index produced by TASAI. The report which was authored by Edward Mabaya, Richard Kachule and Mainza […]
Civil Society Agriculture Network (Cisanet) has urged government to incentivise the agriculture sector in order to attract active youth participation in crop production and value chain initiatives. Cisanet Head of Programmes, Alfred Kambwiri, said it is sad that although the youth constitute a bigger chunk of the total population, their participation in the agricultural sector remains […]
The Malawi government, through the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development, says the 2018/2019 Farm Input Subsidy Programme (FISP) closes this Friday, and that there will be no more sales of farm inputs under the project. A statement released by the Ministry, and signed by its principal secretary Gray Nyandule Phiri, posits that all […]
The Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development, Joseph Mwanamvekha says the country should expect bumper yield in 2018-2019 growing season due to adequate rainfall. Mwanamvekha said despite experiencing usual challenges of floods in some parts of the country, prospects are quite encouraging that farmers will realize more harvest. The Minister made the observation on […]