JB pleased with her farming initiative
Former president Joyce Banda has expressed satisfaction with the outlook of maize crop cultivated under Community Development Initiative she established in 2021 in consultation with President Lazarus Chakwera.
Speaking on Monday when she toured farms in Traditional Authority (T/A) Mnyanja in Kasungu District, she said it was important to help Malawians to become food-secure.
Banda said the initiative seeks to address socio-economic challenges people in rural areas face.
She said: “We provide them with free farm inputs and money to venture into farming to ensure they improve their crop production.
during the tour
“The initiative also seeks to transform rural communities through the construction of houses, schools, markets, provision of clean water and one-stop centres.”
Banda urged her fellow politicians to help Malawians transform their lives.
“We must ensure we go and seek support to help these poor people. We must not just think about votes and ourselves,” she said.
On his part, T/A Mnyanja thanked the former president for introducing the initiative in his area, saying his subjects had challenges in accessing farm inputs under the Affordable Inputs Programme (AIP).
He asked the beneficiaries not to sell their maize, but keep it for food.
One of the beneficiaries, group village head Chinjoka also thanked Banda for the initiative.
“The initiative will help vulnerable communities to get bumper harvests in a season when other farmers are not expected to get better yields due to lack of farm inputs,” he said.
At least 1 050 households received free fertiliser and maize seeds and cultivated about 10 000 hectares of maize, beans and soybeans under an arrangement that also includes a monthly K25 000 allowance.
