Dedza North legislator Savel Kafwafwa (Malawi Congress Party) has asked government to be providing area specific crop information to enable farmers to choose suitable crops for their respective areas and improve output.
The parliamentarian said this on Thursday when he asked a supplementary question to the Minister of Agriculture Sam Kawale in Parliament.
He said area specific crop data would be instrumental in making commercial farming a viable business for those venturing into it.
Said Kafwafwa: “In the olden times there were recommendations about which crops would do best in which locations. Can the Ministry of Agriculture provide such information?”
In his response, Kawale said there is already area specific crop data which is being provided to farmers through the Mega Farms Unit.
Said the minister: “Data is readily available for everyone. But subsistence farming drove us away from using such data and that’s why everyone was growing anything anyhow, anywhere.
“However, when we are identifying farmers under mega farms, we are telling them exactly what to grow, where to grow and how to grow and also what market they can have for the crops they will grow.”
Kafwafwa further asked for long- term loans for farmers who want to grow crops that take long to give returns such as fruits.
To this, Kawale said the issue was already being taken care of through the Mega Farms Unit.
