Farmer field schools key to food security—ministry
The Department of Animal Health and Livestock Development says farmer field schools are key to achieving food security and commercialisation.
The department’s director Julius Chulu said this on Tuesday at Thuchila Farm Institute in Mulanje District after appreciating various farming technologies and how farmers are benefiting from farmer field schools through Kulima Project.
He said: “Farmer field schools are important because people learn from their peers and come up with solutions to their own problems using community-based facilitators and master trainers who come to Thuchila Farm Institute.
“This is good for the sustainability of agricultural production in Malawi because the government is now promoting agricultural productivity and commercialisation.”
He said the Ministry of Agriculture in partnership with development partners is promoting agriculture diversification and new technologies to achieve farming commercialisation.
Blantyre Agriculture Development Division (ADD)programmes manager Patricia Mayuni said the field day offered an opportunity to farmers to appreciate and decide what type of technology and variety they should adopt for their benefit.
She said: “It has been hard on us due to the devastation caused by Tropical Cyclone Freddy in the Southern Region.
“However, bringing farmers to a field day like this and showing them diversified farming technologies, offers them an opportunity to choose the variety of crops they want and the type of livestock farming they can practise in their communities.”
The field day was organised under the theme ‘Agriculture diversification, key to food, nutritional and income security for resilience to climate change’.
Blantyre ADD organised the field day demonstration in partnership with Food and Agriculture Organisation and GIZ.
