His Excellency, Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, President of the Republic of Malawi, has challenged Malawians to change their wrong mindset towards farming and agriculture in Malawi.
Speaking in his capacity as Chancellor of the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR), and just before he conferred academic honours on 439 students, the President urged all Malawians to reject the misconception that farming is a vocation meant for the poor and illiterate.
He reminded Malawians that for many years, the richest man on earth was American business magnate Bill Gates who made his money by building Microsoft, a company that makes computers.
But President Chakwera said what many people do not know is that Mr. Gates is also the largest private owner of American farmland, which sprawls over 268,000 acres of farmland that spreads out over 19 states.
“This is because Mr. Gates knows that there was once a time when the human civilization existed and functioned without computers, but there has never been a time when human civilization existed and functioned without agricultural produce,” said the President.
President Chakwera also rebuked that it is also wrong for Malawians to continue holding a mindset that farming is only for subsistence, whose goal is simply to grow enough for sheer consumption.