Agriculture, Water Development and Climate Change
Building a productive, competitive and resilient nation” MGDS III
The DPP will give highest priority to agriculture as the basis for maintaining sustainable livelihoods and economic growth of our economy. In that regard, we shall institute deep-rooted reforms in the agricultural sector to support viable agro processing industries
To this end, the DPP will place priority in following areas :
- Develop new research on climate change in order to protect our agriculture from the adverse effects of extreme weather changes.
- Increase agricultural productivity, lower the costs, of agricultural inputs on a sustained basis; support rapid agricultural production by linking it with industry so as to ensure supplies of raw materials to support ago-processing industries.
- Develop a national food security programme through increasing efficiency in food production, storage and distribution and manufacture affordable smallscale metallic food-grain silos to ensure food security at the village level.
- Establish effective means of ensuring that our strategic food reserves do not fall below a level endangering our people.
- Encourage dietary diversification to decrease over-reliance on maize meal, by growing other food crops such as cassava, potatoes, rice, pumpkins, millet and sorghum.
- Remove taxes on staple foods, such as maize, beans, meat, rice, cassava, potatoes, and other food crops.
- Facilitate the establishment of credit co-operatives or village banks and providing financial support for capitalization of village based credit schemes.
- Promote horticulture farming, processing and marketing.
- Promote horticulture bulking groups in rural areas who will be provided with cold room storage facilities and processing equipment.
- Promote fish farming among small holder farmers by constructing ponds and dams in rural areas. High value fish varieties such as Chambo will be promoted to supplement the Chambo from Lake Malawi.
- The DPP will promote community participation in livestock breeding and multiplication. In this programme, artificial insemination of livestock which include cattle, goats, sheep and pigs will be enhanced.
