Minister of Agriculture Sam Kawale has urged farmers who have received compensation following their loss of produce to climate-change shocks to use the money to buy farm inputs.
He said this on Friday at Mkwala Ground in Traditional Authority Maseya in Chikwawa District during the launch of this year’s crop insurance payout to 20 farmers who faced adverse weather conditions in the 2023/24 agricultural season.
Kawale said for the few years, natural disasters such as Cyclone Freddy and El-Nino have hit hard farmers, thereby affecting yields.
He said: “That is why today, World Food Programme [WFP] through government is paying out this compensation to farmers whose crops were damaged.
“Therefore, use the money to buy farm inputs and food. Government is committed to supporting smallholder farmers to graduate from subsistence to agribusiness farming.”
On his part, WFP deputy country director Simon Denhere commended government for its commitment to policies that leverage insurance as a critical mechanism to safeguard farmers from adverse effects of climate.
“Malawi is increasingly facing more frequent, intense and unpredictable climate shocks which perpetuate a cycle of food and nutrition insecurity,” he said.
Chikwawa District Council chairperson Martin Goche urged farmers in the district to embrace the project and continue with its objectives which are climate-smart agriculture, insurance and marketing.
One of the beneficiaries, Frank Ipo from Mkwala Village, who received K103 200 payout, commended the initiative.
At least 52 000 farmers were insured and 35 700 farmers from Balaka, Machinga, Zomba, Mangochi, Phalombe, Blantyre, Chikwawa and Nsanje districts will receive more than K2.2 billion.
