Malawi President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera has commended Southern African Confederation of Agricultural Unions (SACAU) for including small scale farmers in its programs and empowering them to be part of the value chain and migrate from being subsistence farmers.

President Chakwera made the remarks on Tuesday 9th July 2024 at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe when officials from SACAU, Ministry of Agriculture and National Smallholder Farmers Association of Malawi (NASFAM) briefed him on the SACAU Conference.

The conference starts tomorrow at the Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC) in Lilongwe where the Head of State is expected to be the Guest of Honour.

In his remarks, President Chakwera praised SACAU for inviting him to be guest of owner at the event saying his vision is to make Malawi self-reliant.

“Agriculture is our lifeline. We want to be a self – reliant country. Africa has a lot of arable land,” said the Malawi leader, adding: “There was a time Africa served the world and we should continue serving the world.”

President of SACAU Dr. Sinare Sinare said the regional grouping has a lot of interest in the smallholder farmers to make them grow.

“We don’t want smallholder farmers to remain small forever,” emphasized Sinare Sinare.

NASFAM Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Betty Chinyamunyamu, said the SACAU Conference is an important platform to share lessons and experiences both good and bad in the agriculture sector.

Chinyamunyamu also cherished the good working relationship that is there with the Ministry of Agriculture.

“It is our responsibility to work with the government to transform agriculture,” she said.

SACAU is a membership-based regional farmers’ organization representing the common interests of farmers in Southern Africa.