The Globe Action to End Smoking on Wednesday handed over a state-of-the-art K5 billion Global Action Transformation Center to the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR), as part of the Centre for Agricultural Transformation (CAT) Project
The facility, funded by Global Action to End Smoking, is expected to revolutionize soil health monitoring for smallholder farmers across Malawi.
Speaking at the handover ceremony, CAT Executive Director Macleod Nkhoma said the initiative marks a major milestone in empowering farmers to understand the health of their soil.
Nkhoma highlighted that most of the soils in the country are degraded therefore there is need for farmers to know the state of their soil in order to find means of improving them for higher yields.
“What our farmers have to know is that our soils are degraded therefore this is an opportunity for them to bring their soils for test for improvement.” he said.
LUANAR Vice Chancellor Professor Emmanuel Kaunda welcomed the development, promising to ensure the facility reaches farmers in all corners of the country.
Kaunda added that they will make sure that the prices for the soil test are affordable so that even a local farmer can manage to pay for the service.
“We will make sure that the prices are reasonable so that even a local farmer can be able to pay,” he assured.
In Her remarks, Global Action to End Smoking executive board chairperson Pamera Parizek, says the project has assisted a lot in as far as crop diversification is concerned.
Parizek described the laboratory as an indication of the impact the project will bring to a local Malawian farmer.
The new centre is expected to support research, training, and extension services with hopes to boost Malawi’s agricultural transformation agenda.
By Peter Dumayo.