The ministry of trade, industry and tourism has hailed the SADC Trade Related Facility Project saying farmers will know new farming technologies that will help them export produce and become economically independent.
This was said during a field day visit at Matonthera area under Champhira EPA in Mzimba. The visit was organized by the Agricultural Research Extension Trust (ARET) on Saturday.
Speaking at the function, Deputy Director of Trade in the ministry of trade, industry and tourism Clement Phangaphanga said the project is set to benefit farmers in Mzimba as it promotes the production of oilseed crops such as groundnuts and soybeans.
Phangaphanga advised farmers in Mzimba and other districts in Malawi to change their mindset and adopt the new farming technologies so that they can transform their lives and alleviate some effects of climate change.
“The project is meant to create awareness of the need to diversify the cultural crops into oil seeds as they have important value chains, this has a lot of agricultural benefits to these farmers which might lead to farmers picking up on the market and becoming economically stable,” said Phangaphanga.
According to project manager Dr. Chance Mautwa, the project has recorded success as it has surpassed their target of 3, 000 farmers which is contrary to what they were anticipating.
Mwautwa said the project is set to address two components of modernization of oilseed cluster and effective implementation to change the lives of farmers by finding markets for them in the SADC region.
He also narrated that they are working with different partners, cooperatives, associations and processors to ensure smooth implementation of the project in Mzimba.
In his remarks, Inkosi Mzikubola advised farmers to change their mindset and adopt the new farming methods for them to have bumper harvest.
The SADC TRF project is a two year project set to end December, 2019 and is being implemented in various districts across the nation with funding from European Union.
