Minister challenges new graduates
Minister of Agriculture Lobin Lowe has challenged 165 youths who graduated on Tuesday with a diploma in general agriculture at Mwimba College of Agriculture to change the face of the sector.
He said despite agriculture being a crucial sector to Malawi’s economy, very little opportunities are explored due to reluctance by many graduates to embrace their profession.
Lowe said: “The agriculture sector has so many opportunities but they are not fully explored and the challenge is that people still have a negative perception about agriculture and I want to challenge you today to change that.”
The minister also urged stakeholders to learn from other sectors such as health where students are given a chance to practice in various health facilities.
Mwimba College of Agriculture is run by the Agricultural Research and Extension Trust (Aret) and offers certificate and diploma courses in agriculture.
In his remarks, Aret board chairperson Reuben Maigwa said the college is liaising with the National Council of Higher Education to upgrade its accreditation to start offering degree programmes. “We’ve come from far upgrading little by little and soon we will offer degrees. The good thing with our curriculum is that it maximises practicals so that our graduates come out fully baked,” he said.
