By Vincent Nhlema
NASFAM, through its commercial arm (NASCOMEX), has donated 5000 kilograms of rice (for rice pudding) and another 5000 kilograms of fortified maize flour towards cyclone victims in the southern region of Malawi, in response to Malawi government’s call for support.
By Vincent Nhlema
The Royal Norwegian Ambassador to Malawi, H.E. Mrs. Ingrid Marie Mikelsen says the NASFAM has potential to contribute towards reduction of the trade balance through export and as a substitute for imports, which continue to deplete foreign currency in the country. Mikelsen said this when toured NASFAM Commercial processing facilities in Lilongwe to appreciate the geoprocessing activities NASFAM is undertaking, as one of the beneficiary organisations of Norway’s support.
By Vincent Nhlema
There is a global outcry. Fertilizer prices have gone through the roof. The situation has sent panic not only to farmers but to world leaders as well. There is panic about how national and global agriculture production will be affected. They fear it could lead to food shortage, pushing commodity prices further upward.
The situation is more worrisome in least developed countries like Malawi, where foreign exchange scarcity exacerbates the situation. In the past three years, Malawi has seen rapid price increase for fertilizer. To a greater extent, this has been attributed to disruption of production and supply chain, induced by Covid-19. Today, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine poses a bigger threat to the fertilizer industry. Russia tops fertilizer and natural gas (a major component in production of nitrogen-based fertilizer) exports but with sanctions and disrupted supply logistics due to the invasion of Ukraine, supply shortage is looming.
By Vincent Nhlema
The Royal Norwegian Ambassador to Malawi, H.E. Steinar Egil Hagen, on Thursday, toured some livelihood improvement interventions and value addition initiatives happening in Mulanje and Phalombe districts under the National Smallholder Farmers’ Association of Malawi (NASFAM).
During the tour, the Ambassador interacted with some smallholder farmers, learning how their lives have improved with support from the Norwegian Government, through NASFAM.
By Vincent Nhlema
In recent years, climate change has become a global issue. At global level, world leaders have agreed to take necessary steps to reduce greenhouse gases which has become a major issue in dealing with factors that greatly contribute to global temperature increase. During the recent conference of partners (CoP26), climate campaigners pushed world leaders to implement policies that will limit the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
While climate change is a global issue, it becomes personal for people living in communities that depend on forests and agriculture, more so in least developed countries like Malawi. They feel the impact more because it has direct effects on their day-to-day life.
With the majority of people in Malawi depending on forests for energy, housing, and other agricultural activities (especially tobacco), preserving forests has become a farfetched dream. It takes one to appreciate the effects of deforestation on human life for them to pay necessary attention to forests.
