Project to promote Irish Potato, g/nuts farming

Irish potato and groundnut farmers in Ntchisi District are set to learn new farming technologies to improve crop production, courtesy of Transforming Agriculture Through Diversification and Entrepreneurship (Trade) programme.

In an interview on Wednesday, the project’s communication officer Oscar Ulili said they want to improve people’s livelihoods in the district through farming.

“We want to ensure that smallholder farmers adopt new farming technologies that will increase their produce,” he said.

Ulili said under the project, they will upgrade roads, markets, bridges and dams to accelerate farming activities and ease mobility of farm produce to markets.

Trade project environmental and climate change specialist Amos Lupa said they will work with farmers at every step to ensure success.

Groundnut farmer Yamikani Sefa from Mzandu in Traditional Authority Chikho commended the project, especially on its initiative to upgrade roads in the district.

“I grow a lot of groundnuts, but I end up selling to vendors in my village because it is expensive to transport the produce to better markets at Ntchisi Boma or Mponela in Dowa,” he said. 

Ministry of Local Government is implementing the project in Ntchisi, Mchinji, Nkhata Bay, Kasungu and Karonga districts.