By George Mponda

Karonga, May 24, Mana: Karonga District Council Chairperson, Misheck Mwaijengo has warned farmers to stop drying their rice on the sidewalks of M1 Road to avoid accidents.

This is coming as most farmers have started harvesting their rice and it is common practice to be drying the yield on the road.

In an interview on Friday, Mwaijengo said although the practice is very common during harvest time, it poses a grave risk to road users since accidents can happen.

"Our colleagues from the department of Agriculture should go around with awareness messeges to stop farmers from drying their rice and other products on the road. We should not wait for an accident to happen before action is taken," said Mwaijengo.

"The stretch of road from Karonga town to Songwe border is where this practice is very common and some parts of Chilumba as well. People need to know that doing this is putting the lives of so many road users in danger," he said.

In a seperate interview, one of the rice farmers, Rehema Chipeta from Zindi Village in the area of Paramount Chief Kyungu said lack of space to dry their harvest in their homes is what pushes them to the M1 Road.

"As we speak, the soil around our homes is still too moist and the only place where we can dry our rice is on the tarmac. We have no choice," Chipeta said.