Agriculture policy crucial in transformative agriculture- agriculture analysts
Senior policy advisor, in the ministry of agriculture, irrigation and water development Flora Nankhuni says the preparation and implementation of the national agriculture policy Malawi is key to agriculture transformation.
Speaking at the end of a four day national workshop on Agriculture Sector Wide Approach 2 (ASWAp II), Nankhuni said the meeting hopes to jumpstart the agricultural policy with a special focus on private sector as a major driver.
“Agriculture policy has just been approved, and we would like to take this opportunity to create awareness to private sector and all policy makers of what they are required to do in order to make it a success. We want a robust implementation of the priority areas so that agriculture in Malawi is not only transformative but to also act as a learning point for other countries,” he said.
Nankhuni further said through this workshop government hopes to strengthen participants organizational and analytical capacity in implementing the National Agriculture Policy (NAP) through the ASWAp II for agricultural transformation and agriculture-led development in Malawi.
Deputy Director of Planning in the ministry of agriculture, Hemes Mauwa, said the workshop would also help implementers to own, thereby, ably manage and strategize the policy in all focus areas.
“In the agriculture policy we have eight priority areas which include a component in irrigation, mechanization, empowerment of youth, women and vulnerable groups in agriculture just to mention a few, as we are rolling out these focus areas, we would want the people on the ground to be fully aware of what is expected from them and how they should implement these areas,” he said.
The workshop which attracted over 20 delegates from both private and public sector was organized by hosted by Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Water Development (MoAIWD) and supported by the New Alliance Policy Acceleration Support Project (NAPAS: Malawi) — a USAID/Malawi funded project that is being implemented by Michigan State University, the
International Food Policy Research Institute, and the University of Pretoria.
