Platform for African – European Partnership in Agricultural Research for Development

Sunday, November 5, 2017

Farmer to farmer videos boosting rural incomes

3 November 2017. This video shows how one farmer in Mwanza district Malawi named Lester Mpinda Chizumeni managed to organise his fellow farmers and started growing chili for the first time as a commercial crop after watching Access Agriculture farmer to farmer video.

Farmer to farmer videos boosting rural incomes

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On October 31, 2017, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) hosted the Compact2025 Forum in Lilongwe, calling upon stakeholders from across our Ministries, development and research organizations, the private sector and civil society to discuss how Malawi can accelerate progress in moving from food relief to building food system resilience.
Dr. Saulos Klaus Chilima, Vice President of the
Republic of Malawi, delivering his keynote address

The Forum, hosted by the International Food Policy Institute (IFPRI), followed up on the recommendations from the last Malawi Roundtable Discussion held in May 2016. Under the theme of “moving from relief to resilience,” the Forum focused on how Malawi can break the cycle of food shortages and humanitarian responses.

Vice President Chilima highlighted that for Malawi, an agro-based economy, building resilience is not only a disaster risk management issue, but also key to the nation’s economy and development. As Malawi continues to face disasters with growing frequency and intensity, the National Resilience Strategy has been developed to harness synergies and enhance coordination through major components of: resilient agricultural growth; risk reduction, flood control, early warning and response systems; human capacity, livelihoods, social protection; and catchment protection and management. He noted that resilience building in Malawi should take a three-lens approach, focusing on food security, infrastructure development, and economic resilience. The Vice President further noted the support of cooperating partners, research institutions, and non-governmental organizations will be important.

A panel discussion featured Readwell Musopole, Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development, James Chiusiwa, Department of Disaster Management Affairs, Felix Pensulo Phiri, DNHA, Ministry of Health, Clement Chilima, Department of Forestry, and Victoria Keelan, Agricultural Resources Limited, and was moderated by Tamani Nkhono-Mvula, Agriculture Policy Consultant. Panelists and participants discussed coordination during implementation, mainstreaming nutrition, managing challenges, and the role of the private sector in the context of building resilience.

Dr. Shenggen Fan presented on accelerating progress in Malawi and reiterated Compact2025’s commitment to provide support using research, innovation, and partnerships to end hunger and undernutrition in Malawi by 2025. Honourable Dr. Jean Kalilani, Minister of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare, closed the session with a summary of the discussions, including the need for a multisectoral approach, private sector engagement, mainstreaming resilience, scaling up successful programs, sharing knowledge and experiences to harness synergies, efficient funding of programs and building on existing resources, as well as the importance of data and evidence.

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