Posted on May, 6, 2019 at 10:33 am
Written by Emmanuel Kanzimbi
Farmers in Phalombe will now have access to up-to-date information that will enhance agricultural productivity, courtesy of an information resource centre by the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR).
Handing over the facility to communities in the area of Senior Chief Kaduya on Friday, Deputy Vice Chancellor for LUANAR, Professor Lewis Dzimbiri said the University was responding to farming challenges resulting from lack of information on modern methods of agricultural practices among farmers in the district.
Dzimbiri said the resource centre would stock books from which farmers would get information on how to mitigate climate change and other agriculture related topics.
“In this way, we will beat problems such as shortage of extension workers which results into low delivery of extension services to farmers,” he said.
“We believe that by bringing in these messages through the books it will be very easy for farmers to adopt climate smart agriculture which is the answer to current problems in the sector,” Dzimbiri added.
District Agriculture Development Officer for Phalombe, David Ali hailed the initiative, expressing hope that it would simplify delivery of extension services since literate farmers would be using the facility and extension workers consultations interchangeably.
“The district is facing acute labour force inadequacy. So, by opening a resource centre like this we hope to cut on the unnecessary pressure that farmers exert on the few extension workers when looking for information that they could have accessed on their own given the necessary materials,” Ali said.
In her remarks, Senior Chief Kaduya praised the partnership between LUANAR and the agriculture department which has led to the coming of the resource centre in her area.
Apart from the resource centre located in Naminjiwa Extension Planning Area, LUANAR has also opened resource centres in Nkhotakota and Rumphi districts under a Capacity Building for Climate Change and Mitigation in Malawi project.
Source: Malawi News Agency (MANA Online)