By George Mponda

Karonga, May 24, Mana: Karonga farmers have been urged to shift from traditional farming to climate smart agriculture inorder to mitigate the effects of climate change and pandemics.

District Coordinator for Comitato Internazionale Per Lo Sviluppo Dei Popoli, (CISP) Raphael Mwakyanjala made the call, Thursday in Karonga at Vinthukutu Extension Planning Area (EPA) during a field day.

Mwakyanjala said CISP is implementing a three-year project titled 'SMART Climate-Sustainable Malawian Agriculture to Enhance Resilience to CLIMATE Change'.

'We intend to help communities in Karonga to stabilise their food and nutrition security, generate sustainable livelihoods and guard their assets against effects of climate change and pandemics.

“This can be done through adoption of methods like producing and using manure for farming which improves soil structure and also the use of certified seeds,” he said.

Director of Agriculture Services for Karonga District Council, Alfred Nyirenda said crop yield have been reduced due to erratic rains hence farmers need to shift to climate smart agriculture.

“Dry spells and flooding have reduced the amount of harvest for farmers. There is need to adopt methods which can ensure that they benefit alot from a small piece of land. They should prepare their land early, use conservation agriculture, zero tillage and heavy application of manure," Nyirenda said.

On her part, one of the lead farmers under the project, Lonce Ngwalanji from Group Village Head Mkakatavu in the area of Senior Chief Wasambo hailed the use of manure for increasing her rice yield.

"I used manure on my quarter hectare of land and I have managed to harvest six bags of rice weighing 100kg. I made this manure at home using the knowledge imparted to us by CISP," said Ngwalanji.