Government has urged financial institutions to increase funding for large-scale and mechanised agriculture to help transform Malawi’s economy.
Speaking at an Agribusiness Forum in Blantyre on Friday, Minister of Agriculture Roza Fatch Mbilizi said Malawi must move away from subsistence farming and support smallholder farmers to become commercial producers.
“They should also look at mechanization. The use of the hand hoe should be eliminated in our farming ecosystem because at the end of the day, we need to transform this country,” Mbilizi said.
The forum was organised by the Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI), with support from NBS Bank.
MCCCI Deputy President Dr Dorothy Chapeyama said limited access to affordable capital remains one of the major challenges facing the agriculture sector.
NBS Bank Head of Food and Agribusiness James Chiumia said the bank is responding by introducing financing products targeting the sector.
He announced the launch of two new facilities—the Commercial Agriculture Loan and the Cooperatives Loan.
Chiumia said agriculture remains the backbone of Malawi’s economy and that targeted financing is critical to increasing production and unlocking opportunities across the sector.
The forum brought together stakeholders from the banking, business and agriculture sectors to discuss ways of modernising farming, increasing productivity and accelerating agricultural commercialisation in Malawi.If you want, I can also make it shorter and punchier for a news website, with a stronger headline.
