Some pig farmers at Dindano in Sub-Traditional Authority Mndola in Nkhata Bay District have bemoaned inadequate livestock extension workers in their area.
The farmers have since appealed to government to ensure that it allocates additional livestock extension workers to help boost their pig farming.
One of the farmers, Elijah Phiri from Mputahelo area in Muwingwa II Village said the area had one extension worker who also covers Kachenga, Mzenga, Kawalazi and Msumba areas.
He said: “With dwindling fish stocks on Lake Malawi, most fishers are venturing into piggery as an alternative source of food and income.
“We feel the extension worker we have has a huge task because he covers a large area and by the time he comes to attend to us, it happens that the situation is out of control.”
Phiri, who gave up fishing for piggery, recalled that he lost two pigs to a disease he did not know because the extension worker was attending to other farmers.
Another pig farmer, Vitumbiko Banda from Kholoma Village said it was
high time government provided adequate extension workers in their area to help ease the challenge.
Nkhata Bay district animal health and livestock development officer James Mzere admitted that the district has inadequate extension workers.
He said out of 12 extension workers in the district, only five are allocated to extension planning areas (EPAs).
“It is just by luck that an area like Dindano under Nkhata Bay EPA has an extension worker but otherwise some EPAs do not have any. So, the concern is genuine,” said Mzere.
He said the council had plans to recruit additional extension worker but the plans were suspended following government directive halting any recruitment
