Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development Kondwani Nankhumwa says the agricultural sector provides 90 percent of export earnings which contributes 30 percent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Malawi.
Nankhumwa revealed this on Friday during the launch of Agriculture Commercialisation project (AGCOM) which was held at Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC).
He referred to statistics which indicates that 30 percent benefits from the sector facilitates GDP of Malawi.
“Let me point out a few important statistics to always bear in mind about this sector; agricultural sector employ over 65 percent of total labour force in Malawi, and 70 percent of agricultural labour force are women. The sector provides about 90% of our export earnings which contributes about 30 percent to our GDP,” said Nankhumwa.
Nankhumwa continued saying that any inclusive growth strategies to propel Malawi to economic prosperity must start with transforming the agricultural sector.
AGCOM is a nationwide project for six years with financial loan from the World Bank, and it is aimed at increasing productivity and diversifying both the food and export base of Malawi by targeting all viable value-chains in crops such as legumes, horticulture, livestock and fisheries including aqua-culture.
The launch of AGCOM was graced by the presence of the president of Malawi, Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika, who revealed that the project seeks to graduate 650,000 small and medium scale farmers from subsistence to commercial farming.
