NEWS:

20 Apr, 2016


LUANAR reseachers with farmers
In its quest to reach out to farmers in the country, Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) is working with Innovative Fish Farmers Network Trust (IFFNT), a network established by the Malawi Government through the Aquaculture Development in Malawi (ADiM) project to contribute to the empowerment of fish farmers and promotion of aquaculture production in Malawi.

IFFNT Project Coordinator Dennis Chinkhata said as one of the network’s strategic partners, LUANAR through its Aquaculture and Fisheries Science Department and the NEPAD Regional Fish Node has contributed immensely to the growth and operations of the organization.

“As a research institution, LUANAR has developed numerous fish production technologies which have been successfully disseminated and adopted by fish farmers through the IFFNT,” said Chinkhata.

He said from 2014 until early 2016, LUANAR’s NEPAD Regional Fish Node also partnered with IFFNT in the Agriculture Technology Transfer (AgriTT) project which aimed at development of a low cost fish diet among other things.

“The project worked with and trained over 150 farmers under IFFNT. And in 2013 upon completion of a Community Action Research (CARP) Project in which it trained fish farmers from Dowa and Mchinji Districts, the NEPAD Fish Node linked the farmers to the IFFNT for sustainability of the impacts on the farmers’ livelihoods and dissemination of learned technologies,” said Chinkhata.

He further said that some of LUANAR’s members of Staff such as Professor Emmanuel Kaunda who is also the Deputy Vice Chancellor of LUANAR and Dr. Joshua Valeta who is the Open and Distance Learning (ODL) Coordinator and an Associate Professor in the Aquaculture and Fisheries Science Department, have been instrumental in the survival of the network.

IFFNT has registered members across the country and currently operates in seven districts associations across the country namely; Mzimba, Nkhotakota, Lilongwe, Dowa, Nchinji, Mulanje and Thyolo.


Written By: Patricia Nkhoma