‘WFP to continue helping farmers’
World Food Programme (WFP) executive director Ertharin Cousin says she will look for more donors to help scale up school feeding programmes which have helped to create markets for farmers in the country.
Cousin, an accomplished speaker on food insecurity and chronic malnutrition, said in an interview that school-feeding programmes are beneficial because apart from helping children to stay in school, they are giving farmers a ready market for their produce.
Said Cousin: “I have been impressed with what I saw in Mangochi. Upon my return to Rome, I will make sure that I work closely with other donors so that we can scale up the school-feeding projects because it has the potential to change the lives of farmers.”
Cousin also called on government to work closely with the farmers to reduce the suffering that may come in due to low yields emanating from wash-aways as well as the dry spell which has hit the country.
Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development Allan Chiyembekeza commended WFP for introducing the school-feeding programme in the area which, he said, will help farmers get good prices for their crops.
“If our farmers have ready markets for their crops, they will work very hard because they know where to sell their produce once they have harvested. As government, we will try our best to make sure that the school-feeding programme is up scaled, so that many schools should have a chance of feeding pupils as well as give a chance to farmers to sell their produce within their localities,” said Chiyembekeza.
In Mangochi, there are over 6 000 farmers working under the guidance of the WFP partners Malawi Lake Basin Programme and the Local Government’s agricultural extension planning area.
