By Wezzie Gausi:
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (Ifad) has provided $5.03 million (about K5.9 billion) to the Government of Malawi for the purchase of fertiliser to assist in achieving food security at household and national levels, the Ministry of Agriculture has revealed.
The money has come through the Crisis Recovery Initiative that aims at helping stakeholders recover from the effects of cyclones and Covid.
In an interview, Minister of Agriculture Sam Kawale said in its efforts to achieve food security in the country, the government has been implementing a number of programmes, some of which are through support from development partners.
He said these programmes provide various farm inputs to farming households while others provide cash so that farming households can access inputs of their preference and meet their immediate needs.
“Indeed, there are other programmes that provide matching grants or even loans to some farm organisations so that they can buy inputs or capital for their farming, especially when farming is their main business.
“For example, in the last year, Sustainable Agricultural Production Programme (SAPP 1) that was supported by Ifad at a cost of $71.1 million covered 260,000 households with various agricultural programme activities under the ministry,” Kawale said.
Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture and Irrigation Chairperson Sameer Suleman said it was a good thing that partners are coming in to show their support.
However, he was quick to warn the government to use the money for its intended purpose.
“As you may be aware, this year the number of AIP beneficiaries has been reduced and we expect that the government will do everything possible to help poor people who are facing hunger,” Suleman said.
