Smallholder farmers in Machinga District have pleaded with government and other stakeholders to provide them with technical expertise in seed multiplication.

The farmers made the appeal on Wednesday during an agriculture field day in Senior Chief Chamba’s area.

One of the farmers, Mussa Nsomba, said once they are empowered with seed multiplication skills, they will be able to cut cost of seed purchases.

A rice seed multiplication farmer Assamu Chunga explains how he is does his work

He said: “Seeds are now expensive, most community members cannot afford. This year, people had to wait for government’s Affordable Inputs Programme to purchase seeds at subsidised prices.

“Those that did had to dig deeper into their pockets.”

Machinga chief agricultural officer Feston Chikweza said the district, through a project implemented by Pride,  has started engaging local farmers willing to go into seed multiplication.

“We are registering more local farmers who are showing interest to start seed multiplication,” he said.

The Machinga District Agriculture Field Day was held under the theme, Enterprise Diversification, Key to Improved Household Income, Food and Nutritional Security.

The post Machinga farmers seek stakeholders’ expertise in seed multiplication appeared first on The Nation Online.