National Planning Commission (NPC) has urged government to invest more in agriculture extension services to improve on the ratio of one to 3 000 smallholder farmers which is affecting agricultural productivity.
Delivering a keynote address at the Seventh Africa Wide Agricultural Extension Week in Lilongwe on Monday, NPC board chairperson Richard Mkandawire observed that Malawi and other African countries have not invested much in extension services and soil improvement.
He expressed worry over the ratio of extension workers to farmers, currently at one extension worker to 1 000 farmers in Africa, and one extension worker to 3 000 smallholder farmers in Malawi against the recommended ratio of 1 to 400 farmers.
Mkandawire said the situation makes it hard for farmers to be effective in production.
He said: “Thousands of smallholder farmers are hardly reached. When farmers are not reached with information on agriculture and technical support, it is hard for them to be effective in production.
“We need to look at ways of building a critical mass of these extension workers through training. There is no reason why we cannot have extension workers that are actually self-employed.”
Mkandawire also called for the need to invest in the improvement of soil health, adding that Malawi should find ways of raising resources to support agricultural transformation instead of relying on foreign support.
Minister of Agriculture Sam Kawale, who officially opened the conference, said while government has come up with a new policy on extension and advisory work to help improve extension services, resource challenges have forced Malawi to look at innovative ways of transforming the agriculture sector.
He said Malawi is now embracing the use of technology in extension services by using radio, television, and mobile phones to quickly reach farmers with information and extension services.
“A physical meeting between a farmer and an extension worker should be the last resort. By doing that, we will have our farmers do great things in a short period of time,” said Kawale.
Malawi’s economy depends on agriculture. However, over the years the yields have been dwindling, thereby affecting food security and exports.
