Farmers Union of Malawi (FUM) and Civil Society Agriculture Network (CisaNet) have hailed yesterday’s launch of the National Agriculture Policy and National Irrigation Policy as right steps towards transforming agriculture, but advised that the key lies in implementation.
In his remarks during the launch presided over by President Peter Mutharika in Lilongwe, FUM chief executive officer Prince Kapondamgaga, while acknowledging that the two policies were long overdue, observed that in Malawi implementation of key policies has been tricky.
He said the overriding message from the two policies is that agriculture needs to be done in a transformed way and the agenda set by government is ambitious, requiring seriousness to achieve the required results.
Said Kapondamgaga: “Government is trying to give a strategic direction for the next five years and let me say that the agenda set is a very ambitious one, but a necessary one, too.
“It is high time we did away with a hoe and do mechanised farming through which we can produce more on a unit piece of land and be able to achieve food security.”
On his part, CisaNet national coordinator Tamani Nkhono-Mvula observed that Malawi has not had a comprehensive policy in the agriculture sector for a long time and that the agriculture policy was long overdue.
However, he said the tricky part lies in the implementation of the policies which have set ambitious targets.
Said Nkhono-Mvula: “For instance, the agriculture policy is saying that we should double the production of maize by the end of the time-frame which is only four years and looking at the funding in the sector, I don’t think that this can be achieved.
“It is good to be ambitious, but it is also important to be realistic with our ambitions so for us to achieve what we have set for ourselves in these policies we really need to work very hard. We also need to increase funding in the agriculture sector.”
In a nutshell, the National Agriculture Policy seeks to guide operations in the agricultural sector over the next five years and is built on the long-term development strategy, Vision 2020 and draws from the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy II (MGDS II).
The policy advocates sustainable agricultural production and productivity, irrigation development, mechanisation of agriculture market development, agro-processing and value-addition, among others.
Launching the policies, the President said they will be instrumental in the country’s agriculture development.
Mutharika acknowledged that planning has been a problem in the agriculture sector worsened by the use of uncoordinated policies, developments that led to catastrophes such as hunger.
He said: “We can only make the most out of our agriculture sector if we plan well, but our past years tell a different story. We did not plan well. We have not maximised the potential of the agriculture sector for a number of reasons. This sector has been characterised with policies that lacked clarity. Sometimes, there have been conflicting policy positions on key issues.”
Commenting on the policies, United States of America Ambassador Virginia Palmer said the strategies have the potential to break the cycle of food and nutrition insecurity as well as transforming Malawi’s agriculture sector into an engine for economic growth and job creation. n
