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MBABANE – Agriculture SADC regional multi-stakeholders want sharing of good practices, innovations, viable options, and advocate for action to ensure vulnerable smallholder farmers access fertilisers to be taught in schools.
According to the stakeholders from the Southern African Development Community (SADC), who were present for a three-day Regional Multi-stakeholder Dialogue on Vulnerable Farmers’Access to Fertilisers, primary and secondary schools pupils should be the main target if the challenge faced by the agriculture sector regarding fertiliser is to be resolved.
Conserve
They said a bottom-up approach must be put in place in order for pupils to grow up with the relevant information regarding the use of fertiliser and how to conserve agriculture.
This was said on the last day of the dialogue which was held at the Hilton Garden Inn. Participants from the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), agricultural sectors across the kingdom as well as farmers across SADC took part in the dialogue.
The stakeholders said targeting pupils at lower grades would curb the increasing challenge of food and nutrition security
The bank’s FNBApp and other interfaces will get a fresh new look, making it easier in livelihoods of vulnerable smallholder farming households on the continent.
Nyasebwa Chimagu , the Director of Crop Development Tanzania said the engagement of both the primary and secondary pupils on good practices, innovations, viable options, and advocate for actions to ensure vulnerable smallholder farmers access fertilisers would help the youth with practical information on farming as they grow.
“We are saying if we want to experience good practices and innovation to take place in the agricultural sector in our countries, let us teach our children in schools on this while it is still early. Schools must be engaged first before the proposed programmes are promoted,” said Chimagu.
Esther Sharara, the Regional Humanitarian Advisor Action Aid International from Zimbabwe elaborated on the issue of educating children regarding manure usage. She said many people were not knowledgeable on the use of kraal manure as a form of another fertiliser. She said educating them on its usage would bring them insight on how it should be applied.
“People are not aware that before you use kraal manure to be precise, it must first be compost. This is why we are saying let the young generation be taught on how it should be used,” said Sharara.
She went further to say it was also important to view the kind of technology used to produce high quality crops. She said instead of getting rid of the oldest forms of technologies and replacing them with new advanced technological ways, it was important for farmers to come up with ways on how these technologies should be used together complementary.
It was also highlighted during the group discussions that it was important not to sideline the indigenous knowledge. However, it was discovered that in most African countries, indigenous information was not documented and participants felt it was high time for its documentation as it would assist farmers improve their productivity.
Expensive
Furthermore, David Mwesigwa, of the Emergence and Resilience Coordinator, FAO Lesotho cautioned farmers to start using inorganic fertiliser since organic fertilisers were now expensive. He said people must stop thinking that there was no life without organic fertiliser.
“Since organic fertiliser is expensive, inorganic fertiliser is the problem solver. Farmers must stop thinking that without organic manure, there is no life.”