Posted on March, 13, 2019 at 09:05 am
Written by Brian Wasili
Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development has said it is impressed with farmers’ response to modern farming methods, a development which has led to bumper yields expected this year.
Director of Human Resources, Martha Mtenje made the observation on Friday at an agriculture fair held at Ngadziwe Village in area of Traditional Authority (TA) Kanduku in Mwanza.
“The Ministry is satisfied with good crops in the fields of individual famers in Mwanza and in all the agricultural development divisions in the country where we have visited which is enough evidence that farmers are embracing what extension workers are propagating,” she said.
Mtenje noted that practicing modern farming methods remains crucial to increased crop production especially this time when countries including Malawi continue to be affected by negative effects of climate change.
She said due to climate change whereby rainfall is unpredictable there was need to promote modern farming technologies, including growing of hybrid crop varieties so that farmers should still have a good yield in case of a dry spell.
“We are promoting conservation agriculture through field demonstrations and lead farmers so that they can learn from each other so that the technology is adapted quickly among the farmers,” the Director added.
Mtenje said that among other interventions, farmers were also encouraged to practice fish farming and grow fruit trees to promote dietary diversification to scale up nutrition at household level.
She commended men who were taking a leading role in promoting modern methods of farming at household level.
One of the lead farmer, Gelesani Jambeni said he expects an improvement in his harvest as a result of adopting modern farming.
“I expect the highest yield ever because I engaged myself in modern farming. In the past, I could not harvest enough to take me throughout the year,” he said.
Jambeni encouraged other farmers to put into practice what they learn from field demonstrations.
Prior to the main function which was attended by a cross section of people from government officials, traditional and religious leaders participants toured five centres where they admired good maize, cotton, bee keeping, fruit and livestock farming.
This year’s field day which was organized by Blantyre Agricultural Development Division (BLADD) was celebrated under theme: ‘Promotion of integrated agriculture technologies, key to sustainable food and income security while mitigating effects of climate change,’
Source: Malawi News Agency (MANA Online)