Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Benedicto Chambo, has expressed satisfaction with farmers from Mlomba Extension Planning Area (EPA) in Lilongwe for making strides in the Sustainable Agriculture Production Programme (SAPP).
Chambo made the remarks on Wednesday in the area of Traditional Authority Chingala where he went to see and appreciate how SAPP has benefited the farmers.
He said the only way the country can achieve food security is through working hard in the fields and taking part in different modern agricultural practices such as irrigation, saying rain-fed agriculture is no longer reliable due to climate change.
“SAPP 1 has achieved a lot in this EPA, you can see how farmers who benefited from this programme are explaining to us. They are happy because they are practising irrigation farming and some have their own livestock, this is a clear indication that SAPP is changing livelihood.
“As a ministry we are looking for food security and I’m glad to say that in this area we have achieved food security through SAPP 1,” he said.
One of the beneficiary Joyce Thom, thanked government for the initiative saying through the programme she has been able to take care of her family members and children through farming and rearing animals.
“Before SAPP our farming was unsustainable and our yields were low, but with the coming in of SAPP, everything changed through training and support. We learnt new farming practices, for instance, I have learnt to make manure which helps me to have bumper harvest and be able to feed my family, sale some and pay school fees for my children,” she said.
She further said that SAPP has not only improved their livelihoods but has also empowered the farmers to take farming as business.
SAPP is a programme aimed at enhancing agricultural productivity and improving rural food security in Malawi by providing smallholder farmers with simple, affordable technologies to bridge the gap between actual and potential food crop yields.
