Malawi President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika on Wednesday reiterated government commitment to transform agriculture sector in the country.
Mutharika was speaking during the official launch of Shire Valley Transformation Project (SVTP) at Kapichira in Chikwawa district. He said agriculture sector has the potential of creating wealth and eradicating unemployment.
“We are transforming this country. We are transforming this country by transforming our agriculture.
“For a long time, agriculture has been our way of life for growing food. Now we want agriculture to be our way of life for creating employment and new wealth for Malawi,” said Professor Mutharika
He added: “In this programme, we will see factories that process our produce into finished products ready for export. This is transformation. Industrialization is coming to Nsanje and Chikwawa.”
The President, Professor Mutharika also listed some of the programs which government is implementing to transform agriculture sector in the country.
Among the programs includes: Kutukula Ulimi M’ Malawi, Agriculture Commercialization Project, Agriculture Sector Wide Approach and Rural Irrigation Development.
“Our collective vision is to transform Malawi from an importing and consuming country to a producing and exporting country.
We want to empower Malawians to create wealth for themselves, “said Mutharika while calling for Malawians to use the opportunities government is creating to move out of poverty.
Mutharika then commended the World Bank, the African Development Bank, OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), Nigerian Trust Fund, the Global Environmental Facility for supporting the Shire Valley Transformation Programme.
VTP is expected to irrigate over 43,370 hectares of land in Chikwawa and Nsanje districts.
