New Finance Bank (NFB) on Friday launched a K1 billion structured agriculture value chain finance facility also dubbed Project 1,000.
The project is targeting smallholder farmers through anchor farmers to acquire agriculture machinery for improved crop production.
NFB Chief Executive Officer, Francis Pelekamoyo, said there is need for the country to improve the ability of smallholder farmers to produce high yields for food security and improve the export base.
“The traditional hoe is becoming a bit of a bottleneck in farming and a normal farmer cannot buy a tractor. So what we have done is to use the anchor farmers to buy all that equipment so that the smallholder farmers can benefit from modern technology.
“What we are saying is the smallholder farmer should be involved in modern technology farming at the same time we are trying to beat the weather. That’s why it is not only rain-fed production but also irrigation,” he said
He further said the project is encouraging farmers to grow more leguminous crops arguing that they are fetching higher prices on the market while at the same time helping diversify exports.
The bank has partnered with, among other stakeholders, Africa Leasing Group, Stansfield Motors and Nico General Insurance Company
Africa Leasing Group Chief Executive Officer, Foster Harawa, said the equipment and irrigation facilities that have been provided will help farmers to grow crops on a large scale.
“There is a lot of land that is not being used for agriculture and the reason is people are using man-powered way of farming. A single tractor can do seven hectares a day which means you are looking at covering 200 hectares in just a space of 10 days,” he said
Director of Programmes Development at Farmers Union of Malawi (Fum), Jacob Nyirongo, has commended the bank and stakeholders, saying the project will help farmers who are struggling with labour hence reducing the cost of production.
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