LACK OF INVESTMENT AFFECTS AGRICULTURAL DIVERSIFICATION

By Meclina Chirwa 

It was a busy day at Parliament on Thursday as clusters raced against time to finalize the two-week scrutiny of the proposed 2021/2022 national budget.

The Agriculture and Irrigation, Natural Resources and Climate Change cluster hosted officials from the National Smallholder Farmers Association of Malawi (NASFAM) and Action Aid Malawi who disclosed that Malawi is on the verge of not meeting its goal of agricultural diversification due to lack of investment.

NASFAM’s Head of Policy and Communication Beatrice Makwenda said, "Government has for a very long time placed much emphasis on maize than other crops."

She urged authorities to extend such investment to other sectors of the agriculture sector including extension services which she said are vital in agricultural productivity.

NASFAM and Action Aid Malawi are implementing Social accountability project to ensure diversification in agriculture.