Ministry takes banana production to schools

Ministry takes banana production to schools

In a bid to promote banana production among young people in the country, Ministry of Agriculture through the Department of Crop Development (DCD) has embarked on an exercise of introducing banana farming in the country’s primary and secondary schools. 

The initiative dubbed ‘School Banana Orchard Establishment” is being carried out with support from the Technical Cooperation between China and Malawi. Through the initiative, over 100 banana plants were planted at Chaminade Marianist Secondary School in Lilongwe, during a ceremony held under the theme ‘Plant Bananas to Protect School Environment and Increase Access to Improved Nutrition’. 

Speaking during the ceremony, DCD Deputy Director Eviness Nyalugwe said the Ministry is committed to promoting banana farming in the country’s primary and secondary schools in a bid to improve the availability of the fruits in the country. Nyalugwe said that the Ministry is concerned with the importation of banana fruits by the country, hence its decision to promote the planting of bananas in schools.

“Currently, our country is importing a lot of bananas from Tanzania and even Mozambique. The Ministry is concerned and therefore we have thought of increasing the production area of the bananas in the country. Most of the time we normally involve adults to grow the bananas, but this time around we have decided to also involve young people especially students in primary and secondary schools across Malawi,” Nyalugwe said.

The deputy director was optimistic that involving schools in banana farming will help to increase the availability of bananas in the country. “We believe that when we target these youths in schools they will have that spirit of growing bananas and when they grow up they would become farmers. This will help to increase the production of bananas and would reduce or stop the importation of the fruits in the country,” she said.

Chaminade Marianist Secondary School Principal, Brother Duncan Onyango thanked the Ministry of Agriculture for considering his school to be part of the ‘School Banana Orchard Establishment’ initiative. He said that he will make sure that all the planted bananas at his school are well cared for so that they can grow and start producing fruits.

Banana production in Malawi was greatly affected by the Banana Bunchy Top Virus ((BBTV) and as a country we are yet to recover from the effects of the disease.