Petauke farmers advised to diversify

Petauke farmers in Eastern Province have been advised to start growing cassava on a large scale to ensure food security throughout
the year.

Petauke District Commissioner, Elijah Mwale, said if cassava was grown on a large scale, it would ensure people do not appeal to government for relief food every time they had a poor maize harvest.

Mr Mwale was speaking when he officiated at the District Agricultural
and Commercial show in Petauke over the weekend under the theme,
“Business in a changing environment.”

He observed that soils in most parts of the district were good for growing almost any crop, hence the need to grow even high value crops such as paprika, which fetched good money.

The District Commissioner explained that most high value crops did not even need expensive inputs such as fertilizer and that farmers could examine their profits if they grew such crops.

Meanwhile, the District Commissioner stressed the need for farming communities to diversify their crop production if they were to earn more from their farming.

Mr Mwale stated that his call for crop diversification should not make the farmers stop growing maize which was their staple food.

He explained that growing only maize had led to shortage of food during years of drought, hence the need to diversify.