Maravi

COMESA pushes for strengthening of regions farmer organizations

COMESA pushes for strengthening of regions farmer organizations
By Mutale Kapekele
Thu 24 June 2010, 15:00 CAT

COMESA has called for the strengthening of farmer organizations in the region for further development of the agriculture sector.

Addressing the sixth annual general congress for the Farmers Union of Malawi (FUM) and the second Eastern and Southern Africa regional agricultural commodity workshop held in Lilongwe on Wednesday, Alliance for Commodity Trade in Eastern and Southern Africa (ACTESA) chief executive officer Dr Cris Muyunda said strengthening farmer organizations in the region would increase agricultural productivity.

ACTESA is a COMESA implementing arm for agriculture and related programs.

Dr Muyunda said strengthened farmer’s organizations would help to push for policies needed for sustainable agricultural sector growth.

“The importance of strengthening farmer organizations in the region as one of the critical focus issues in agriculture if there is to be smooth development of the sector,” Dr. Muyunda said. “With more compact and coherent farmer organizations, the dialogue with governments and regional economic communities is most likely to yield conducive policies for sustainable agricultural sector growth. This is the only way in which the commercialization and growth interests of smallholder farmers will be championed.”

He assured farmer organizations that, ACTESA, through its
Africa Agricultural Markets Program (AAMP) and other programs would assist national and regional farmer organizations to develop training, commercial and other marketing services in order to make the farmer organizations more attractive and appealing for grassroots organizations to join them.

Dr. Muyunda also noted that despite agriculture being the leading sector in terms of employment and livelihood in the region, it had fallen short of driving economic growth consistently.

He said ACTESA would like to contribute to higher productivity by encouraging participants in the agriculture sector to adopt modern methods of production and marketing.

“For example, correct use of modern biotechnology and increased use of irrigation can only benefit our farmers, and not hurt them. Indeed the 21st century belongs to those who are pragmatic and can seize the opportunities as they arise,” he said.

Dr. Muyunda urged the participants at the meeting to make use of the key programs at ACTESA, which helped in dealing with key market development issues.

These programs include the USAID supported Market Linkages Initiative; the Australian government sponsored SMART FS; the EU supported COMRAP and the DFID sponsored AAMP.

Dr. Muyunda further highlighted the importance of diversifying the production and marketing base in the region.

Labels: COMESA, FARMERS

posted by MrK @ 5:43 AM