Flanders pumps K3.3bn in agriculture sector
Flemish and Malawi governments yesterday signed a financing agreement worth 4.5 million euros (about K3.3 billion) to contribute towards improving agriculture productivity.
The resources will finance a five-year project from June 2019 to May 2023 whose main interventions aim to promote land tenure security through systematic rural land registration, among others.
Speaking during the signing ceremony at Capital Hill in Lilongwe, Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development Joseph Mwanamvekha said the project is aligned to the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS) III first priority area which is Agriculture, Water Development and Climate change management.
He said: “The project will, therefore, contribute towards the achievement of agricultural growth targets which are essential if we are to maintain strong Gross Domestic Product [GDP] growth.”
The minister said project beneficiaries include smallholder farmers, extension workers, and community-based facilitators from Kasungu and Mzimba.
In total, Mwanamvekha said the project is expected to train at least 90 extension workers, 1 000 community-based facilitators and 60 000 smallholder farming households. On his part, government of Flanders deputy general representative in Malawi Nikolas Bosscher said Flanders has been supporting the agriculture sector for over 10 years, adding that the country’s strategy paper aims to contribute to the transformation of the agriculture sector from subsistence farming to market oriented production.
