Japanese Ambassador calls on farmers to be innovative
Japanese Ambassador Shuichiro Nishioka has called on local farmers to be innovative in order to be self-reliant and food secure.
The ambassador said this last week at Chikangawa Extension Planning Area in Mzimba during the official closing ceremony of a project on better livelihoods and self-reliance in the district implemented by Japanese Overseas Cooperation Association (Joca) with funding from the Government of Japan.
Nishioka said the project focused on capacity building, value addition, marketing and income diversification.
He said: “There is need to invest in improved agricultural productivity, create conducive agriculture markets and invest in value addition and irrigation farming to ensure that farmers are food secure and their livelihoods are improved.”
Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development chief director Bright Kumwembe thanked the Japanese government for the project, urging local farmers to keep practising the skills learnt from the project as one way of sustaining the programme.
Kumwembe said government will soon launch the National Agricultural and Irrigation Policy to embrace efforts by farmers to improve on the technologies and expand irrigation to ensure the country has sufficient food.
