Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI) has implored the government and players in the agriculture sector to expedite the agricultural commercialisation process to benefit the economy.
MCCCI Deputy President Boyd Luwe said this during the opening of the National Agriculture Fair Thursday.
Luwe said commercially-oriented smallholder farmers comprise only seven percent of the Malawi population, such that they cannot successfully feed the country.
He said it is important for the country to commercialise the agriculture sector as it is the best way of becoming a self-reliant nation.
“The goal of commercialising agriculture is to sustainably increase smallholder farmers’ incomes through market-oriented activities, thereby stimulating economic growth.
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“This can be achieved by facilitating transformation from a subsistence-based rural agriculture economy into a sustainable value chain and market-driven sector,” he said.
Meanwhile, figures from MCCCI show that, this year, there have been 109 exhibitors at the fair, lower than the 128 businesses which registered to showcase products.
Minister of Agriculture Sam Kawale, who was the guest of honour at the event, admitted that the country has been slow in commercialising its agriculture sector.
“We are coming up with ways in which we can assist small, medium and even large-scale farmers to have access to equipment and technology that will help them to be where we would want them to be,” Kawale said.
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One of the exhibitors, Centre for Agricultural Transformation (CAT), applauded MCCCI for organising the fair, indicating that it levels the playing field for players in the sector to showcase their products.
CAT Executive Director Macleod Nkhoma said the country should embrace commercialised agriculture so that it helps with import substitution and foreign exchange generation.
“Apart from commercialisation, we need to promote diversification because depending on tobacco alone is not feasible for a growing population that needs to feed itself and export some,” Nkhoma said.
Agriculture commercialisation and productivity is the first pillar in Malawi’s blueprint Malawi 2063 which aims at making the country an inclusively wealthy and self-reliant nation by 2063.
