By Dean Chisambo
The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has launched its Country Programming Framework (CPF) for Malawi for the period 2024-2028.
In his remarks during the launch on Friday in Lilongwe, FAO Representative, Zhijun Chen, said the CPF focuses on three thematic areas, namely: agriculture and food systems transformation; sustainable natural resources, management and environment conservation; and resilience building and emergency response and preparedness.
He said in Malawi there is high demand for agriculture and food system development, also there is a big gap which needs to be closed and yet huge potential exists. Hence through implementation of the CPF, FAO will continue to work with the Government of Malawi, through the Ministry of Agriculture, to turn opportunities and potentials into reality.
Chen further added that the kind of interventions included in the framework are based on previous assessments and consultations, technical advice and recommendations from the government, the United Nation (UN) system and other development partners.
In his sentiments, Minister of Agriculture, Sam Kawale, who was the guest of honour, and launched the CPF, said that the ministry is looking at measures of how it can enhance agriculture production and productivity, environment protection and technology advancement to ensure sustainable contribution and alignment to Malawi 2063 vision – priority areas which FAO has included in framework.
Kawale said, “we cannot continue practicing agriculture the way we have been doing in the past. We need to make sure that first of all we produce enough that can help us to have nutritious food and generate income.
” Then, we need to make sure that we protect the environment, so that the impact of climate change can be mitigated. We need also to make sure that we put a lot of emphasis on the choices we make that have a positive impact and are sustainable.”
On her part, UN Head of Office, who represented the UN Resident Coordinator, Mickelle Murphy, said the framework is extremely significant because agriculture is the backbone of Malawi’s economy.
She described that FAO’ s framework is aligned to the bigger UN development framework and priorities in Malawi. She added that the CPF will contribute to food security and nutrition while addressing pressing issues such as environmental and climate change management as well as resilience building.
The total budget of the CPF is USD 90 million and FAO has already mobilized USD 76 million. The gap is USD 14 million and it is mainly for emergency preparedness, response and recovery thematic area. FAO is calling upon development partners to support this area in order to address the existing gap and protect and improve the lives of people affected by disasters, including their property and livelihoods.
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