Speaker lobbies for more funds to agriculture sector

Speaker of Parliament Catherine Gotani Hara has spoken of the need for Malawi to invest more in the agriculture sector to improve people’s living conditions and promote social cohesion.

Speaking when she opened the Africa Food Systems Parliamentary Network (Afspan) Retreat organised by Agra in Salima on Saturday, she hailed the involvement of parliamentarians through the network.

Hara said the meeting will ensure right policy measures, and necessary budgetary resources are allocated to implement the objectives of the harmonized Malawi 2063 and Africa Union Agricultural and Food Systems Transformation Commitments.

She said: “People are hungry and they need action on the ground. As Parliament, we have done our part in making sure there are enabling policies and legislation.

“It becomes frustrating to see that the implementation is very slow, all we see are endless meetings that yield nothing while policies are just gathering dust.”

About 35 members of Parliament including executive members of the Finance, Budget, and Agriculture committees attended the meeting.

Agra Malawi acting country director Valentine Miheso said they aim to mobilise parliamentary support and advance inclusive agri-food system transformation across the African continent.

“Parliament has the power to allocate the budget, we want them to have a view on what kind of investment is needed to make a difference,” he said.

Although Malawi has complied with the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme 2003 Maputo Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security by allocating more than 10 percent of national budgetary resources to agriculture, production is still low.