Secretary to the President and Cabinet Colleen Zamba has described agriculture in Malawi as a gold mine ready to be exploited.
Zamba was speaking in Dallas, Texas last week during a panel discussion on Scaling Agribusiness Ventures: Opportunities and Challenges in Taking Africa Agribusiness to a New Level during the US Africa Business Summit.
According to Zamba Malawi has all the ingredients that investors would need to succeed in agriculture.
She cited fertile arable land, plenty of water and a youthful population as some of the key ingredients that would make agriculture easy.
“I therefore invite investments in agriculture in Malawi,” Zamba said.
She observed that the government has put in place a conducive environment for propelling investments in agriculture.
Among others, the head of the civil service said the government of President Lazarus Chakwera is promoting agri-industrialisation, as part of its ATM Strategy which would help unlock wealth and jobs.
She cited the Special Economic Zones Act and favourable land laws which allow long term leasing of land.
Speaking on Sunday night during a Malawi-Texas Business Roundtable Meeting Chakwera said Malawi has plenty of investment opportunities in agriculture.
“We have made up our mind that we don’t want subsistence farming any more. We want agriculture to be a big business.
“We want serious irrigation farming. We want big time mining and we want to market Malawi,” Chakwera said.
