Mining & Trade News

Minister of Agriculture Lobin Lowe has hailed Civil Society Agriculture Network (CISANET) for its meaningful contributions in developing the agricultural sector in the country.

Lowe made the remarks at Bingu International Convention Centre during the Agriculture Open Day organised by CISANET under the theme ‘Making Agriculture Work in Malawi.’

He said he was impressed with various programs and activities that the organisation holds saying their strategic priorities and the thematic areas align with those of the Ministry.

Lowe said: “I am happy to note that CISANET is already a reliable strategic partner that my Ministry continues to work with.”

“I appreciate CISANET’s efforts that aim at coordinating and fostering collaboration among non-state actors towards agricultural transformation.”

“Indeed as the CISANET slogan suggests ‘together we can make agriculture in Malawi vibrant’.”

He also advised all stakeholders in the sector to consider stocking themselves to see if they are making progress in the industry.

Lowe said continued monitoring and evaluation will help the player to gauge how far or close they are towards their intended destination in the sector.

He said it is of paramount importance to devise ways of getting to the top that every farmer in the country has been dreaming to so that their lives can be improved.

The minister also expressed acknowledgement on the challenges that are currently being faced in the sector and said it high time as a country we should start asking ourselves on what we do to promote food security.  

He said: “I do agree with CISANET that at the core of these challenges are the following questions: How do we increase access to markets for farmers? And how do we strengthen the resilience of the sector to weather and market shocks?”

“I would like to assure you that Government is aware of all these challenges, and working really hard to respond to them. As Government we are committed to respond to these challenges through sufficient budget allocations and policy implementation.”

Lowe urged civil society organisations in the country to continue collaborating with the government and also come forward to bring recommendations to government based on their work or experience from expatriates.

In her remarks, CISANET National Director Pamela Kuwali said she was delighted with the Minister’s openness to recommendations from the CSOs.

Kuwali said: “After meeting the minister we are very happy, especially this is not the first time we have met him. We have noted that every time we have been in his office he has been open. Each time we invite him to our events he shows up.

“We understand that the role of revamping the agriculture sector is not a one body duty. So his openness shows that he really cares for the sector.”

She also said holding of more agricultural events in country can help that policies are not only on paper but also on the ground.

Kuwali said the country needs to be harnessing the benefits from every project that it kick starts rather than being masters in paper work.

She said as CSOs working in agriculture they will continue pushing the government to consider revising the calendar on commencement of buying farm produces.

Kuwali said the country has the tendency of opening ADMARC doors very late, a practice that forces the farmers to be selling their products to unlicensed vendors.

Meanwhile, under Affordable Inputs Program (AIP) the Ministry of Agriculture has managed to sell a total of 165,784.40 Metric Tonnes (MT) of fertilizer representing 45%, translating to 1,657,844 farming household accessing fertilizer.

The Government has also sold seeds amounting to 8,744.44 MT representing 44%.

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