Technical, Entrepreneurial and Vocational Education Training Authority (Teveta) director of training programmes Modesto Gomani says value addition in agriculture has the potential to empower people economically.
He said this on Tuesday in Phalombe during the graduation of 30 youths in intensive agro-processing training at Small and Medium Enterprises Development Institute (Smedi) centre in the district.
Gomani said the agro-processing training under the Farm Management Programme will help the youth to generate more income from their products.
“For long we have focused on raw agricultural production as a country but this training empowers individuals to add value to their products,” he said.
Gomani also encouraged the youth to think critically and believe in their potential.
“Malawi has a lot of potential and with the right mindset, young people can identify opportunities, capitalise on them and go into actual production,” he said.
On her part, Smedi corporate services director Inocencia Chirombo emphasised the importance of mindset change in achieving economic success.
“We want people out there to embrace mindset change to produce and add value to their products for commercial purposes,” she said.
Chirombo also addressed challenges the youth face when starting businesses such as lack of capital.
“We have encouraged them to use what they have so that they can get what they want. They should start small. Succeeding in business is not a one-night thing; it takes time, maybe five years,” she said.
One of the trainees, Semi Kangola, said the training provided the youth with practical skills in agro-processing.
“By learning how to add value to local foodstuffs such as making juice, I can now create opportunities for myself and others while supporting local farmers in value addition,” he said.
