Member of Parliament (MP) for Mzimba South Emmanuel Chambulanyina Jere has proposed that in this season, the government should consider allocating funds in its budget to buy soya beans from farmers at K75, 000 per bag of 50 kilogrammes.

Jere said this would be a systematic approach to substituting the current Affordable Input Programme (AIP) for food security.

Speaking in Parliament on Friday, the lawmaer said as outlined in the State Of Nation Address by President President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera for a need to reform AIP, allocating funds towards purchasing of soya beans from farmers whom he said their soya seems promising in their gardens will help to empower farmers to buy their own fertilizer on the market using the money generated from selling Soya.

“As government is considering reforms on AIP, the people of Mzimba South would like to propose that government should allocate funds to buy soya beans at K1, 500 per kg as a lot of local farmers planted soya and looking in the fields, it is promising which simply means 1 bag of soya beans will be able to substitute one bag of fertilizer on the market and instead of giving AIP, farmers will be able to buy fertilizer using the funds they generate from the sale of soya beans,” said Chambulanyina.

The parliamentarian, who started his contribution on the 2023/2024 budget statement by telling the House that the future of the country depends on agriculture for its growth, said soya beans is one product that is used in producing a number of finished products like animal feed, bio-diesel, cooking oil and soya-pieces; hence, can help generating forex for Malawi.

Narrated Jere, “The basis of growing this country depends on agriculture as highlighted in the budget statement. The more we produce agricultural products, the more we control inflation. The more we control inflation, the more we will decrease interest rates which will result in more people having disposable income. The more we produce, the more we will be able to have excess which we can export outside this country, and the more export, the more we will generate forex that will result in stabilizing our economy.”

He then thanked the government for the support rendered to his constituency during AIP regardless of numerous challenges the program faced in delivering the commodity in the season, adding that many farmers in Mzimba South redeemed their IDs.

He further commended President Chakwera’s government for construction of modern houses for Police Officers at Jenda, saying the project has changed the face of the Trading Centre, asking government to consider constructing similar houses at Embangweni Police Unit.

The parliamentarian also requested the Ministry of Health to consider upgrading Laboratory and Surgery wards at Jenda Health Centre to be upgraded to a Community Hospital as it covers many constituencies surrounding Mzimba South including part of Kasungu North constituency.

Just as other Members of the House, Jere extended the condolence message from Mzimba South to the families of Cyclone Freddy catastrophe.

“People of TA Mzukuzuku and Mzukubola would like to convey our sincerely condolences to the families of those who have lost their lives due to Cyclone Freddy in the Southern Region,” he said.