Malawi government is committed to continue to priotize facilitation of its agriculture extension system because it is the backbone of agriculture as a major critical sector of its economy, this was revealed by the Malawi agriculture minister Honorable Sam Dalisto Kawale, while officiating at the opening ceremony of the Policy Dialogue on mainstreaming Private sector led models, the Digitalization economy, Climate resilience, Cross border trade in Agricultural Extension in Africa.
“In Malawi, agriculture is the biggest employer of the country, our president has continued to push for new concepts of farming, this is a clear indicator we are on track to enable a progressive sustainable food system in Malawi, so this can not be attained without a proper and strong extension system, we are committed to increase the financing of extension system in Malawi and further support all our smallholder farmers access quality advisory services.” Said Minister Kawale.
The one-week continental policy dialogue being held at crossroads hotel in Lilongwe is organized by the African forum for agriculture advisory services (AFAAS) and attended by key Africa extension actors from across Africa. This event is being held alongside the 2024 Farming and Extension Conference organized by the Malawi Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services, together with its local and international members and stakeholders.
Dr. Paul Fatch the AFAAS chairperson said AFAAS is implementing the CAADP XP4 project collaboratively with ASARECA, CCARDESA, CORAF and FARA to support African countries implement relevant programmes of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP). The CAADP-XP4 project supports a science and innovation-led and climate-relevant agricultural transformation in Africa and AFAAS conducted a capacity assessment and AEAS policy analysis, formulation and advocacy.
“The findings show that the current Agriculture Extension policies in most of the African countries have to a very limited extent integrated issues of Climate Smart Agriculture, regional market opportunities, the digital economy and private sector led extension models. It was therefore recommended that the national policies are reviewed to these emerging issues.” Added Dr. Fatch.
According to Dr. Silim Mohammed Nahdy, AFAAS Executive Director, the regional policy dialogue aimed at generating a unified voice on the need to review national Agriculture Extension policies to integrate these critical issues, he said the country Fora have a critical role in facilitating mainstreaming of these issues in agricultural extension policies
“This dialogue will be a platform for building the capacity of AEAS managers on policy development processes, policy analysis and foresight, this meeting will strengthen capacities of regional and national stakeholders in policy analysis, formulation, advocacy and application of foresight in national processes, create awareness on the Agricultural Extension- Innovation to policy nexus among others.” Said Dr. Silim
The policy dialogue is a three-day both physical and hybrid event. Different participatory approaches and adult learning principles including presentation, group work, panel discussion and world café will be used.
Dr. Goerge vilili the chief executive officer of Malawi forum for agriculture advisory services said the forum was an opportunity for Malawi to showcase its innovations and success stories in scaling agriculture extension innovations and approaches, he said MAFAAS as an organization had created strong platforms for farmers, researchers and others to interact and solve problems towards a vibrant agriculture sector.