Agcom financing up to K240bn
Malawi government has announced an increase in the Agriculture Commercialisation (Agcom) programme financing from the $95 million (about K95 billion) to $235 million (about K240 billion) to empower more farmers.
According to the 2023/24 National Budget Statement Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Sosten Gwengwe delivered in Parliament on Thursday, Phase Two of the programme will be implemented to the tune of $235 million.
Reads the statement: “Building on the successes so far and the need to expand the Agriculture CommercialisationProgramme, the government, in collaboration with the World Bank, is preparing Phase Two of the programme to the tune of $235 million, up from the current $95 million. The future is agriculture commercialisation.”
Meanwhile, Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture and Irrigation chairperson Sameer Suleman has hailed the increase in funding, saying for the country to benefit from agriculture, there is need to promote agriculture commercialisation and diversification.
In an interview on Sunday, he said there is need to promote mega farms and irrigation farming, adding farmers should be empowered with modern skills and technologies.
“If this money is put to good use, I can assure you that within two to three years, the country will be food-secure and we will also produce for export. We need to make good use of the money,” said Suleman.
Malawi Agriculture Policy Advancement Agenda executive director William Chanza said in a separate interview the funding is a big opportunity for the country to scale up commercialisation of agriculture, but warned that its success lies in having proper strategies.
Besides increasing production, he stressed the need to promote value addition, establish proper markets for the agricultural products and work with farmers at all levels.
“Given our landscape, we need to consider an inclusive business model. We need to look at how small-scale farmers can work with medium scale farmers and the big farmers. We need to engage farmers at all levels,” said Chadza.
Government, in partnership with the World Bank, is promoting agriculture commercialisation through Agcom with the aim of growing the economy.
So far, Agcom has reached 275 farmer groups with matching grants.
Government has also been promoting agriculture commercialisation through Sustainable Agriculture Project (Sapp) and Malawi Watershed Services Improvement Project (Mwasip). In the 2022/23 financial year, government through Sapp disbursed K356.8 million to 119 farmer groups comprising 4 453 beneficiaries while through Mwasip, government disbursed K441 million to 36 farmer groups.
