On behalf of the Malawi Government, I wish to congratulate Dr Kanayo Nwanze on his re-election as the President of IFAD. This is a fitting decision considering the remarkable progress IFAD has made under his administration. The successful reforms, negotiations for the Ninth Replenishment of IFAD’s resources and substantial increase in disbursement of funds for programmes,  attest to his sound management and effective leadership. Malawi wishes Dr. Nwanze further success in his second term of office.

Chairperson, the theme for this session: ‘the Power of Partnership: Forging alliances for sustainable smallholder agriculture’ is both relevant and timely for Malawi. Our economy is agricultural based and smallholder farmers are central. They generate about 75 percent of our total agricultural output and provide the bulk of food produced. The smallholder sub-sector employs the majority of the labour force. We are aware that in order to realize substantial gains in agricultural growth and transformation, smallholder farming must be transformed from subsistence activities to being run like a business.  We want our smallholder farmers to be integrated into local, regional and international markets, and be important players in the agriculture value chain.  The Malawi government is aware that for this to happen, we would need to build strong multi-stakeholder partnerships and alliances.

Chairperson, it is for this reason that the government has enacted the PPP Act which provides a climate conducive environment to investment and strengthens property rights. Furthermore, the issues of Public-Private partnership are widely outlined in the Government of Malawi’s overarching medium term strategy- the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS 1 and 2) where the agriculture sector is highlighted as one of the priority sectors.

Chairperson, at the operational level, to ensure that there is coordination, coherence and synergy among multi-stakeholders and partners, Malawi is implementing a country-owned Agriculture Sector Wide Approach Programme, (ASWAp)   in line with the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP). The Programme is organized under three focus areas and two key support services. All the focus areas have Technical Working Groups that comprise members of the private sector, civil society, Farmer Organizations, the Government and cooperating partners to discuss issues affecting agriculture sector. In addition, the Government through ASWAp is providing financial support to NGOs and Farmer Organizations to implement agricultural activities ranging from seed multiplication to agricultural extension services provisions to smallholder farmers.

Chairperson, we are grateful for IFAD’s strong presence in Malawi as an effective partner and broker. The Sustainable Agricultural Production Programme (SAPP) contributes to the pillars of ASWAp. The interventions in SAPP are part of the solution though we still need to do much more. We need to build and strengthen capacities of our smallholder farmer’s organizations/cooperatives in the areas of business and financial management, governance and market intelligence. We also need to empower our women farmers, women organizations and the youth. We need inclusive partnership of financial institutions, and more participation from local, regional and international private sector institutions. We look forward to more action in these areas with IFAD and other partners.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION