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Regional integration vital for food security, says Namachila

Regional integration vital for food security, says Namachila
Written by Florence Bupe
Tuesday, April 07, 2009 4:01:01 PM

AGRICULTURE permanent secretary Bernard Namachila has observed that regional integration is vital to the attainment of food security at every level.

During the regional Conservation Agriculture Tour at Pamodzi Hotel yesterday, Namachila called on African countries to unite and collectively adopt farming methods that would foster increased agricultural productivity.

“The Ministry of Agriculture is committed to working with other stakeholders to ensure that we implement policies that will promote healthy farming methods. At regional level, conservation farming can greatly be promoted through integration,” he said.

The Conservation Agriculture Tour has been organised by cooperating partners supporting the sector, including the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and has drawn participants from Malawi, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Mozambique.

Namachila said the Ministry of Agriculture planned to scale up a sustainable approach to increase agricultural productivity through the promotion of conservation farming.

He complained that there was currently inadequate information and technology to spread the use of conservation farming among small-scale farmers.

“There is limited awareness of technology and sharing of documentation showing the benefits of conservation farming among our small-holder farmers,” said Namachila.

“We need to identify policies to further the practicing of conservation farming.”

And FAO representative Dr Noureddin Mona stressed that proper and efficient use of land and water resources was cardinal for sustainable farm productivity.

“It is time that the region critically looks at an approach such as this one which recognises that proper and efficient use of land and water resources is cardinal for sustainable farm productivity as new quality land for agricultural expansion is getting more scarce, coupled with the need to preserve enough forest land to act as sinks and reservoirs for greenhouse gases that would otherwise contribute to climate change and rainfall variability,” said Dr Mona.

Meanwhile, Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU) president Jervis Zimba called for stronger ties between small-scale farmers and the private sector in promoting conservation farming.

Labels: BERNARD NAMACHILA, CONSERVATION FARMIING, FOOD, REGIONAL INTEGRATION

posted by MrK @ 3:01 PM