Malawi Vice President, Saulos Chilima, has described his trip to Israel as an eye opener saying the farming lessons learnt have the potential of boosting Malawi’s economy through increased exports of farm produce.
“We have seen how our friends can do a lot with very little, and if Israel can, why can’t we,” Said the Veep in Lilongwe Sunday upon arrival, further disclosing that Israel, though a desert manages to produce US$5 billion through irrigative agriculture.
On the Israel trip, Chilima was accompanied by seniors in from the Ministry of Agriculture which he said would make them best pioneers of the irrigation farming.
He also said implementation of which he also said was in alignment with Government’s development agenda under the Green Belt Initiative.
The Veep also said implementation of the same would be easier considering that the country already has companies such as Illovo Sugar Company which already use the irrigated farming.
While in Israel, Chilima was also guest of honour at a graduation ceremony of 11,000 students, (including 29 Malawians), who graduated in agricultural studies at Israel’s Tel Aviv University.
The in his speech the Vice President also challenged the Malawian graduating students to bring home and fully utilise every agricultural skill they had learnt.
On his return, Chilima had a two-day stopover in South Africa where he held talks with South African based investors and he disclosed that about seven of them expressed interest t invest in the energy and water development sectors and some would be visiting Malawi within the week on the same.
