By Eunice Disi

Lilongwe, April 19, Mana: President Dr Lazarus Chakwera has emphasized on the need to exploit opportunities in the agriculture sector as a key factor to accelerating Malawi’s economic growth.

Chakwera made the remarks in Lilongwe on Friday during the official opening of the Agriculture Investment Conference.

He said Malawi’s economic growth depends on agriculture hence the need to invest more in the sector.

“Malawians need to invest more in agriculture as it is the driving force of our economy. I am impressed with the agricultural products that we have as a country; indeed, Malawi is very wealthy.

“Agriculture is for everyone; richest people like Bill Gates invest their money into farming and you that claim to be educated do not want to do the same but want to be in offices,” said Chakwera.

He condemned the primitive kind of thinking where people consider agriculture as for the rural and poor people.

Chakwera appealed to the youths, as well as women, to join hands and combine their smaller scale farms into mega farms which promotes the use of mechanization.

He, therefore, encouraged Malawians not only to depend on rain fed agriculture but also venture into irrigation farming.

Minister of Agriculture, Sam Kawale, concurred with President Chakwera that agriculture plays a pivotal role in stimulation of economic growth.

“Our task is to make sure that agriculture sector thrives in increasing production for domestic use and import substitution through agro processing; that it is mechanized thereby generating forex for the country,” said Kawale.

The two-day conference runs under two objectives of attracting any Malawian with farm land above five hectares to invest in commercial farming by introducing them to various profitable agriculture value chains and supporting services including financing and viable off taker markets, among others.