Ministry of Agriculture has assured all stakeholders in the country that the much awaited National Agriculture Policy would be ready in September this year to harmonise all ministry’s departments policies and enhancing agricultural activities.
Bright Kumwembe, Principal Secretary 2 in the Ministry of Agriculture made an assurance in Lilongwe on Tuesday when the ministry in conjunction Civil Society Agriculture Network (CISANET) held a national conference seeking views and inputs into the policy.
Kumwembe said the policy would guide the ministry’s programming to effectively contribute to achieve economic growth which rely much on agriculture as all departments would speak with one voice.
“The sector has been operating using sub-sector policies such that at times these guidelines were incoherent and misaligned which derailed implementation of agricultural programs. Malawi also adopted the Malabo Declaration last year which guides countries in implementing the comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programmes for the next decades as such this nation has made several commitments towards that hence the development of the policy.
“The policy will be ready by end of September this year and consultations towards soliciting views from stakeholders are towards the end. The policy will be one of the best in SADC region which empowers farmers to take agriculture as business where and value add chain programs will be also emphasized which expect to attract foreign markets for Malawi’s products”, explains Kumwembe.
Speaking in an interview, CISANET’s Board Chairperson Rex Chikopa, commended government for consultative effort in making sure that the policy was in place which would revive the agricultural sector saying farmers would benefit and guided to what type of crops were be grown in line with local and international demands for more foreign currencies.
“The policy also seeks to appeal the youths to start taking agriculture as employment unlike collar jobs which if failing absorb young graduates into its space. Therefore, once young people realize that agriculture is another potential source of income, this country will develop quickly.
“Time has come for this country to realise that agriculture is the only base for our economic growth as such enough investments should be done towards the sector. This is the reasons we have been advocating for the development of this policy which will employ government to pump in more resources towards production for this country to produce more for domestic and international markets”, said Chikopa
