By Manasse Nyirenda

Rumphi, March 18, Mana: Director of Agriculture for Rumphi, Malumbo Nyirongo, says a new office in Chiweta Extension Planning Area (EPA) will help his department to effectively reach out to over 4,000 farming households in the EPA and surrounding areas.

In an interview on Monday, he said before they occupied the new office built with funds from World Bank-funded Governance to Enable Service Delivery (GESD), the rented office they were using had limited space.

"We normally do what we call agriculture demonstrations at the office which is practice so that farmers may be able to witness what we teach them.

"These demonstrations could be about crops such as maize or others. We could not do this because we did not have enough space. Now we will be able to do that because we also have a conference room at the new office," he said.

Traditional Authority Mwamulowe said he was looking forward to quality agricultural extension services for his people which will enhance food security in the area.

Agriculture Extension and Development Coordinator for Chiweta EPA, Farewell Mkandawire, said the office will motivate them to work harder in provision of extension services as they now have a conducive working environment.

Director of Planning and Development for Rumphi, Frank Mfune, said GESD projects guidelines ensure that a project is initiated by communities themselves which ensures ownership and sustainability of the projects.

"GESD clearly outlines that all projects implemented using such funds should emanate from the community and it should be able to be traced from the village action plans (VAPs) of the area and District Development Plans (DDF).

"This therefore means that GESD really addresses the needs of the communities, and there is no room to impose a project on the community," he said.

GESD is a performance based Malawi Government project funded by the World Bank.