Food systems investment plan set at $1.2 billion

The country’s weakening food systems need an investment of $1.22 billion over the next five years in order to stabilise production, supply and access.

A Food S y s t e m s Investment plan presented at the National Food systems dialogue in Lilongwe on Thursday facilitated by the National Planning Commission (NPC) in collaboration with Mwapata Institute identifies potential areas of investments with financing suggested to be from the private sector, government and development partners in order to improve food value chains.

However, the proposed investment plan further narrows the investments into four key areas that include small scale irrigation production, f isher ies, extension services and animal mega farms.

NPC research manager Andrew Jamali, who is the focal person of the National Food Systems, said in an interview that action tracks were identified to catalyse inventions that lead to development of vibrant food systems.

H e s a i d i s s u e s of financing, youth investment and integration of private sector have been taken on board into the action tracks.

Mwapata Inst i tute executive director William Chadza, whose institution is among the partners of the initiative said there are supply and demand side challenges that have been identified for interventions in order to unlock opportunities.

He said stakeholders are also looking at the emerging challenges like weather-related shocks that are worsening food production and supply.

“They are also looking into how we move into large-scale production through interventions like mega farms initiative in terms of crop production but also aquaculture,” he said.

The tracking of food systems observed gaps in Food Systems s u b – s e c t o r s , p r e s e n t i n g opportunities to integrate market-driven interventions, according to Mwapata Institute.

The main objective of the National Consultation on the Acceleration of Food Systems Transformation was to build on the momentum generated from Malawi’s national pathways for food systems transformation in building healthier, sustainable, and equitable food systems for a better Malawi. In order to address the food systems gap, the Ministry of Agriculture in collaboration with the National Planning Commission, and with support from the Usaid Feed the Future Food Systems for Nutrition Innovation Lab (FSN-IL) at Tufts University, and the Mwapata Institute, organised five Food Systems Action-Track dialogue sessions to take stock of the progress made so far in implementing the Food Systems program in Malawi, understand the key challenges, propose recommendations, and map the way forward.