NEWS:

22 Feb, 2016


Farmers with LUANAR team
Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) through the Department of Horticulture has trained local farmers in indigenous vegetable production during their field visit at Bunda campus last Thursday.

According to the Head of Aquaculture Department Dr Abel Sefasi, the training was a follow up exercise under the project of Promoting Indigenous Vegetable Production in Malawi.

He said the project aims at promoting indigenous vegetable seed production, conservation, and vegetable utilisation.

Dr Sefasi emphasized that LUANAR has the mandate to respond to issues of nutrition.

“We cannot just sit around and do nothing when our nation is being terrorised by malnutrition”, said Dr Sefasi.

He added that one of the best ways is to take advantage of existing resources in the country that is indigenous vegetables. “These plants can grow easily, are highly nutritious, can survive droughts, and do not need a lot of inputs.”

“The project goes beyond just teaching farmers about husbandry practices but also finding market for their produce. We are linking these local farmers to big supermarkets, and most people have already seen this vegetables being sold in big outlets like City mall,” said Dr Sefasi.

“These indigenous vegetables foods are good for people leaving with HIV, and Lactating mothers,” He concluded.

Dr Chilembwe, a team player in this project at LUANAR thanked the farmers for showingtheir commitment towards indigenous vegetable production. He encouraged them to put into practice the skills they learnt during the field visit.

He also added that “we don’t want this program to fail as your failure means that we have also failed.”

Mr. Azizi, the lead farmer from Nkhotakota, on behalf of other farmers thanked LUANAR for giving them an opportunity to learn these good vegetable husbandry practices.

“Practising indigenous vegetables farming is like restoring lost glory of our forefathers we are very happy and we promise to implement what we have learnt as soon as we go back home. We have seen for ourselves, seeing is believing,” said Mr Azizi on behalf of fellow farmers.

The newly trained indigenous vegetable farmers urged LUANAR team to continue visiting them regularly at their respective farms saying this encourages them.

Among the group of farmers present on this day were Agriculture Extension Development Officers (AEDO’s), Extension workers, and Lead farmers from Nkhotakota and Dedza where the project is being implemented with funding from Capacity Building for Managing Climate Change (CABMACC) Programme. The indigenous vegetables that are being implemented under this project include Jews Mallow (Denje), Cats Whisker (Luni), Amaranths (Bonongwe), and Roselle (Chidede).

Written By: Gracious Chimbalanga, A Third Year BSc Agricultural Development Communication Student
Submitted By: Public Relations Office