Smallholder farmers in Rumphi have hailed the National Smallholder Farmers Association of Malawi (NASFAM) for introducing crop diversification and modern farming technologies, which they say have improved food security and household livelihoods. One of the farmers who embraced the initiative, 54-year-old Albert Mfune of Yaparaka Village, Traditional Authority Chikulamayembe, said he followed training from the […]
Agricultural experts have emphasized the need for Malawi to urgently diversify away from tobacco, which is currently facing serious challenges both on the local and international markets due to the growing anti-smoking lobby. Tobacco has been Malawi’s major foreign exchange (forex) earner. However, its market continues to be threatened by health hazards on both production […]
Minister of Trade Sosten Gwengwe has hailed the NasfamCommercial – a subsidiary company of the National Smallholder Farmers Association of Malawi (Nasfam) – for enhancing the promotion of value addition agenda, which the government is championining. Gwengwe made the remarks on Thursday when he toured Nasfam Commercial’s processing facility in Kanengo industrial area in Lilongwe to appreciate how […]
National Smallholder Association of Malawi (NASFAM) has challenged the government to allocate more resources towards agricultural commercialization programmes if the country is to fast-track realization of sustainable economic growth and development. NASFAM chief executive officer, Dr. Betty Chinyamunyamu, observed that directing more resources to food security programmes while paying limited attention to the agricultural commercialization […]
German has partnered with National Smallholder Farmers Association of Malawi (Nasfam)) and the Malawi Government in its efforts to strengthen prevention, early diagnosis and containment of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) among smallholder subsistence farmers in Malawi. Nasfam has a membership of over 100, 000 of smallholder farmers spread across 22 districts of Malawi. Speaking […]
The Irish Government has given National Smallholder Farmers’ Association of Malawi (NASFAM) a €300,000 (slightly over MK252, 000, 000) to strengthen the capacity of the association’s commercial wing of NASCOMEX for food safety and quality assurance. The Irish Ambassador to Malawi, Gerry Cunningham, broke the news during NASFAM’s 23rd annual general meeting and launch of the association’s fourth Strategic Development […]
South Africa-based world farming expert, Dr. Theo de Jager, has challenged the Malawi Government to incentivise the agriculture sector in order to attract youth involvement in food production and value chain initiatives. Jager, who is also the incumbent president of the World Farmer Organisation (WFO), made the remarks in his keynote speech at the 23rd annual general meeting (AGM) and […]
Farmers in Malawi, particularly smallholder farmers, play a significant role in the Malawi economy as agriculture remains important for household and national food, income and nutrition security, Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development Minister, Kondwani Nankhumwa has said. “The (agriculture) sector generates 29% of GDP, 65% of employment, and 67% of export earnings,” he said when […]
Think of the burden on our children and grandchildren. This is a message resonating from the National Association of Smallholder Farmers in Malawi (Nasfam) concerns over the rising debt levels by government reportedly at K2.4 trillion. Nasfam chief executive officer Betty Chinyamunyamu observed that the government is borrowing a lot to service projects that have […]
Over 3500 small holder farmers in Mchinji have benefited from the National Smallholder Farmers Association of Malawi (Nasfam) project on promotion of smallholder farmer linkages to agro-processors. The beneficiaries to the project situated in Mchinji at Kawerewere Farm, which started three years ago have so far produced 462.83MT of oil seeds of which 342.49MT were marketed through a community […]
Two years after being given a Shell and Oil Processing Machine, Kunthembwe Cooking Oil Corporative Society in Blantyre is unable to start producing oil as the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM) is failing to connect the cooperative with electricity. The project falls under the One Village One Project (OVOP) initiative which was established in […]
An agricultural expert has told Malawian farmers to consider crop diversification in view of the El Nino powered weather which is causing drought in the south and heavy rains in the north. Trevor Mataya, Farm Service National Coordinator for Nasfam said in view of the unpredictable weather patterns, his organization is training 165, 000 farmers […]
The National Smallholder Farmers’ Association of Malawi (NASFAM) on Thursday bemoaned the slow pace in transforming lives of local farmers from being middle income earner to into fully fledged and well established ones. NASFAM Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Betie Chinyamunyamu was speaking at Crossroads in Lilongwe at the launch of NASFAM’s 19th Annual General Meeting […]
Malawi Vice President Saulos Chilima has commended smallholder farmers in the country for their role they play in agriculture and economic activities. Chilima made the commendation when he opened the 18th Annual General Meeting of the National Smallholder Farmers Association of Malawi (NASFAM) at Crossroads Hotel in Lilongwe. He said smallholder farmers play an important […]