UNGA79: The 6th President of the Republic of Malawi, Lazarus Chakwera, who is head of state and government yesterday took part in a high-level panel discussion on food security during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) sideline events. The event, which took place at Columbia University in New York, focused on solutions to ending hunger and enhancing food security globally, with a particular emphasis on the role of universities in achieving this goal.
President Chakwera who is also a default Chancellor of all public universities in Malawi highlighted the importance of engaging universities in research and innovation to address the challenges of food insecurity. He emphasized the need for collaborative efforts between governments, academic institutions, and the private sector to leverage expertise and resources for sustainable food production and distribution.
During the panel discussion, Chakwera shared Malawi’s experiences and successes in promoting agriculture and food security, including initiatives such as youth engagement in agriculture and smallholder farmer support programs. He stressed the importance of investing in agriculture and rural development to improve livelihoods and ensure food security for all.
Acknowledging the factors of climate change as an enemy of food production extremities which have resulted into drought in the northern parts of Malawi and flood-related disasters including cyclones in lakeshore and south-most parts of the country as impediments in Malawi’s efforts towards total and universal food security, President Chakwera remarked that his administration is presently assessing ways of reconfiguring the country’s approach to food production in order to reach the goal of universal food security in spite of these impeding forces that are beyond human control.
One such approaches as emphasized by President Chakwera is that the country is aggressively promoting establishment of climate-smart mega farms that are calculated to help the country close any gaps in food production for Malawi and commercialise the sector to make the country a breadbasket for the region by leveraging vast access to large swathes of unused arable land in the country and large amount of fresh water that we are turning into dozens of irrigation schemes, including a major irrigation project that his administration is developing in the south of Malawi with help from the World Bank, the African Development Bank, and the Open Fund, which, the President said, when completed in 2030 will be the largest irrigation project in southern Africa.
Chakwera further highlighted that he will use the UNGA sideline engagements to host a side event called “The Malawi Partners Conference”, bringing together financial institutions and potential investors to discuss the opportunity that is now available for serious investments in Malawi’s mega farms initiative including this ambitions mega project.
“The bottom line is that in every country of the world, the demand for quality food is growing and the price of food is going up, which means that where we are going this century, food will be a more precious commodity than gold, and Malawi’s water and land resources make our country a gold mine that we need to position strategically to make sure Malawi fulfils its potential of becoming one of the guarantors of food security for the world”, said the President in his pre-emptive lure aimed at potential investors he was scheduled to court.
The President’s participation in the food security panel at UNGA underscored Malawi’s commitment to addressing hunger and malnutrition, as well as the crucial role that universities and research institutions play in driving innovation and sustainable development in the agricultural sector. Chakwera’s insights and contributions to the discussion were well-received, demonstrating Malawi’s leadership in advancing food security efforts on the global stage.
