By Tiyamike Maganjira
Director of Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources for Lilongwe district council, Ezra Mbendela, has challenged farmers in the district to start embracing new agricultural technologies in order for them to have bumper yield.
Mbendela was speaking Thursday at Chitedze Research Station in Traditional Authority M’bwatalika during an agriculture fair which was organized with an aim of promoting Agricultural best practices and technologies to increase productivity and competitiveness.
“This is a great opportunity for farmers to interact with potential buyers such as Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMARC) and many more in order to discuss and showcase innovations and products that spark new business opportunities locally and internationally,” he said
Mbendela said it was interesting and encouraging that many farmers in the district have started using and appreciating the new agricultural technologies in their farms because they know that without following that, they cannot realize bumper yield.
Speaking earlier, Founder of Anathu’s Investment, Mphatso Yobe, thanked government for encouraging farmers as entrepreneurs to produce more and focus on value-added products so that they can compete both on local and international market.
“We noticed that government was pushing for value-added products so we took the initiative with limited resources and now we are able to produce more to the extent that today we are able to show off our value-added products this fair,” she said.
Senior Chief M’bwatalika described the fair as inspiring, saying farmers are motivated to gain new knowledge and experience from their fellows belonging to different cooperatives.
The fair is expected to take place for two days under the theme: ‘Commercialization, Mechanization and Sustainable Agricultural Production: a path way to wealth creation.’
Different stakeholders such as NEEF, ADMARC, Farmers Union of Malawi (FUM), SEEDCO and many more took part in the agriculture fair.
