By Richard Kagunda

Kasungu. May 30, Mana: Controller for Agriculture and Extension Services in the Ministry of Agriculture, Alfred Mwenefumbo has said lack of technological investments in the harvesting of produce was making farmers incur huge post-harvest losses.

He said this on Tuesday during the country’s first ever National Commemoration Day for the Reduction of Food Loss and Waste at Santhe in Kasungu District.

The Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources organised the activity in conjunction with Malawi government to raise awareness about food losses and waste.

Mwenefumbo said manual labour presents harvest inefficiencies, calling on farmers to invest in harvesting technologies to safeguard their produce.

“Let’s buy harvesters according to our capacities because they are available right in this country in different sizes.

“If you are a serious farmer, you must get a harvester. It is worth it because manual labour is limited and you lose your produce due to inefficiencies during harvesting,” he said.

According to Mwenefumbo, the country registers high post-harvest losses due to poor transport systems, storage deficiencies and carelessness.

He said that, “Government is trying to make more places accessible to reduce the losses that are made during transportation. The actual storage also contributes a lot to the losses because most of the produce cannot withstand weevils.

“Let’s take advantage of the available technology such as plastic bags to preserve our produce and avoid selling the produce without budgeting.”

Coordination Specialist at Food and Agriculture Organization, Noellah Kamwendo said high post-harvest losses being incurred by farmers are contributing to the problem of food insecurity in the country.

“This is why this day is very important in that we are raising awareness so that people should know more about food losses, be it maize, milk and legumes.

“It is an important day because people will get know that right from harvesting, transportation, and during processing, some food is lost. This food that is lost can help us for many days,” she said.

As part of the commemoration activities, several organisations including the World Food Programme mounted pavilions to showcase their contribution towards food security in the country.

At least 1.3 billion metric tonnes of food is lost in the world annually where as in the country, post-harvest losses are estimated at 30 percent.