National Smallholder Farmers Association of Malawi (Nasfam) has urged smallholder farmers in Mzimba to embrace climate-smart agriculture to avert hunger and avoid post-harvest losses due to climate change.
The association is implementing a Smallholder Farmers Scaling Up Climate-resilient Solutions project in the district targeting about 10 000 farmers.
In an interview after meeting smallholder farmers and stakeholders in Mzimba on Friday, Nasfam business manager Lettons Mkandawire said many smallholder farmers rely on rain-fed agriculture, and with changing climate, they become vulnerable.
He said: “Climate change has become a threat to food security in the world and farmers cannot produce enough harvest. The challenge is that our farmers do not know how to respond to issues of climate change.
“Farmers need to stop relying on rain-fed agriculture. There should be sustained innovation in drought and pest–resistant seed varieties, environmental friendly practices and better post-harvest management to reduce loses.”
Mzimba district Agriculture Extension Coordinating Committee chairperson Richard Munthali said farmers in Mzimba are slowly adopting new farming technologies.
“We need to step up efforts to train our farmers to embrace these new innovations,” he said.
A local farmer from Champhira Farmers Association in the district, Joshua Kamanga, said farmers are losing a lot of yields because of lack of knowledge on how to respond to climate change.
