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PS urges farmers to go winter cropping

 

Ministry of Agriculture Irrigation and Water Development has urged farmers whose maize fields were affected by the prolonged dry spell, fall armyworms and floods to grow winter crops.

Principal Secretary  in the ministry Gray Ngandule-Phiri said this on Wednesday at Bwalo la Ndege Ground in the area of Traditional Authority (T/A) Chigalu in Blantyre where his ministry launched the national distribution exercise of winter maize seed, cassava, and sweet potato planting materials to farmers.

About 4 863 farm families from Lirangwe Extension Planning Area (EPA) are the first to benefit from the programme. The exercise is expected to benefit over 700 000 farm families in 16 affected districts ,including Blantyre, Balaka, Phalombe, Neno, Mangochi, and Machinga.

In an interview after the launch, Nyandule-Phiri urged farmers in the country to embrace winter cropping as an alternative to replace farm fields that have been affected by the triple disaster this year.

“Government is aware that there are many families who have been affected by the dry spell, fall armyworms and floods and some of them will harvest nothing. It is important to put them [farmers] back into productivity by giving them winter maize seeds and planting materials,” he said.

Blantyre North legislator Francis Phiso (Democratic Progressive Party- DPP) commended government’s quick response to the disaster in his area where he said over 95 percent of households were affected.

“This season’s disaster is something else. I have never witnessed  a disaster like this since I became the MP.  But we thank government for responding swiftly to the disaster by providing us with these winter planting materials,” said Phiso

One of the beneficiaries, Witterson Bito, expressed gratitude over government’s gesture of distributing the planting materials, saying the planting materials will help families fight hunger.

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