Govt promotes integrated agriculture technologies
Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development has emphasized the need for farmers to make full use of integrated agriculture technologies to achieve food security, economic empowerment and mitigate climate change.
Director of crop development in the ministry Godfrey Ching’oma made the remarks yesterday during a Blantyre Agricultural Development Division (ADD) and Bvumbwe Agriculture Research Station joint field day.
During the tour, people visited sites where new and integrated agriculture technologies are being conducted in Chiradzulu, Thyolo and at the research station.
“The purpose of this field day is to disseminate new agriculture technologies to farmers because, in the wake of climate change, these are technologies that have been tried by the research department and have been tested on the farm.
“For instance, we have new technologies on maize where there is an early maturing variety in Chiradzulu which farmers say is better than the late maturing variety.
“There are also technologies on food processing. We have seen sweet potatoes, cassava, among others, being processed into a variety of meals. You know that Malawians usually believe that nsima is our staple food, but we have seen today that somebody can eat cassava, fish and vegetables as a full meal. All these technologies are important in achieving food security and for income generation in farming,” said Ching’oma.
At Bvumbwe Research Station, the delegates visited a root and tuber stand, legume varieties stand, pasture demonstration stand, pesticides control and management stand and the entomology laboratory where researchers are conducting studies on various pests such as false armyworms and tomato leaf miner.
