Kasungu district director of agriculture services Evelyn Chima says climate change is hindering efforts to make the district realise its farming potential.
She was speaking on Saturday in an interview at the end of a three-day review meeting for Kasungu District Agriculture Extension Coordinating Committee (Daecc) in Mzimba.
Said Chima: “Kasungu is an agricultural district, but its potential is affected by various factors, chief among them is climate change which has affected crop production and threatened food security at household level.
“Together with stakeholders in the natural resources conservation and agriculture, we are joining efforts to support farmers with appropriate extension services and technologies to produce more and remain food-secure in the face of unfriendly climatic patterns.”
She said the meeting provided a platform for stakeholders to discuss challenges and successes in promoting agriculture for the benefit of farmers who experienced pockets of dry spells and cyclones last growing season.
“Going forward, all we need is to work in collaboration and help farmers on how they can cope with climate change because that is the major challenge for us,” said Chima.
Daecc vice-chairperson Miriam Zeka described the meeting as a productive gathering where different organisations provided their input regarding various interventions including conservation and climate smart-agriculture.
“We want to review different projects government and partners are running in the district to appreciate the challenges they are facing and the way forward,” she said.
Zeka also noted that climate change has affected the district’s food security.
“We are putting more effort in training farmers in practices that can help improve their yield,” she said.
The meeting, which reviewed the district’s agricultural performance over the past year, stressed the importance of conservation and climate-smart agricultural practices
