Mulanje District Council director of agriculture services Osmund Chapotoka has called on farmers to erect water and land management structures in their fields to enhance resilience of crops to effects of El Nino.
He said this on Wednesday at Masubi Primary School in Traditional Authority Chikumbu during the opening of an agriculture fair held under the theme ‘Promoting climate-smart agriculture, value addition and market access for sustainable development’.
Said Chapotoka: “Apart from making Mbeya manure, farmers should build water harvesting structures such as check-dams, eyebrow basins and swales to harvest rainwater for the fields to hold moisture long enough for crops to mature.
“These will enhance resilience and they will harvest enough food despite El Nino.”
The council’s vice-chairperson Humphreys Mchenga said they are taking advantage of the fair to popularise best farming practices.
“With the help of our agricultural extension officers, farmers are sharing best practices to build resilience, get best seeds and learn to add value to their crops for more income,” he said.
Point of Progress livelihood’s project officer Gift Abinala, whose organisation supported the fair, said they are also helping the council to equip farmers with value-addition skills to boost their agricultural livelihoods.
“We are helping farmers in Namphungo Area to make cooking oil from their sunflower. We want them to be industrious and know how to reduce post-harvest losses,” she said.
One of the farmers, Foster Mpetiwa from Chinomba Village, T/A Chikumbu, commended the council for the initiative, saying it has enabled them to get early maturing and drought tolerant seeds to grow this year.
“We met seed-sellers with early maturing and drought tolerant seeds recommended by our agriculture extension officers. We will embrace the measures they are advocating,” he said.
