Agriculture key avenue for raising incomes—Minister
Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development has said agriculture could become the country’s key avenue for raising incomes, poverty reduction and food security if there are combined social protection and agricultural interventions.
In an interview on Tuesday, Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development Joseph Mwanamvekha said increasing output for some crops is key to ensuring food security at national and household levels.
The minister was referring to a study jointly conducted by Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), International Labour Organisation (ILO), United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) with inputs from the ministries of Finance, Economic Planning and Development and Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development.
The study titled Local Economy Impacts and Cost-Benefit Analysis of Social Protection and Agricultural Interventions in Malawi, finds that doubling the share of households with land above 1.5 hectares and access to irrigation are critical interventions in creating positive real-income multipliers and stimulating agricultural production while alleviating rural poverty.
According to the study, implementing the interventions could increase nominal income effects as well as real incomes across households because the cost of food consumption decreases with larger crop output and spillovers benefit all households.
The study further states that irrigation has smaller multipliers, nonetheless the multipliers do not capture the benefits of lower crop prices that urban consumers receive due to irrigation improvements nor the resulting increase in food security and exports.
Mwanamvekha is, however, upbeat that the country will improve the agricultural sector to ensure tangible benefits.
He said: “The ministry is encouraging farmers to use recommended agricultural practices when growing crops, including proper management and conservation of soil and water for increased crop production despite climate change.
“To build resilience, the ministry is also promoting irrigation farming as well as developing irrigation schemes across the country to increase crop production.”
But agriculture analyst Tamani Nkhono-Mvula, who is former executive director of Civil Society Agriculture Network (CisaNet), said doubling land for households could be a challenge as land is a static resource.
“Access to farming land is an issue in Malawi, but with government interference, this should not be. If we can take irrigation seriously to produce more than once a year, livelihoods would greatly improve,” he said.
