United Nations Development Program (UNDP) country representative Shigeki Komatsubara has encouraged farmers in the country to explore and share new ideas that can assist in adapting to the modern farming methods with the aim of dealing with climate change challenges.

Komatsubara said this when he toured some areas in Zomba district on Friday where UNDP is supporting ADAPT Plan project aimed at building communities’ adaptive capacity to climate change through improved farming.

UNDP together with Global Environmental Facility (GEF) is supporting the project which is being implemented by the government of Malawi through the Ministry of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining.

Komatsubara said: “People should not take the current climate change challenges as unsolvable issue because if we bring our remedial ideas together then we can explore ideas that can turn things to better again.”

He however commended the team working spirit by the farmers in Zomba district where the project is being run.

On his part, Village Headman Mateketa, from the area of Traditional Authority M’biza, whose area is one of the beneficiaries, said his subjects have benefited from the project as the area is usually hit by hunger due to climate change.

However the traditional leader asked UNDP and other well-wishers to assist his area with more water sources to make irrigation farming in the area more vibrant.

Project activities taking place in the targeted areas include; irrigation, fish and goat farming, bee keeping, Agro-forestry and Village Saving Loans (VSL).

In Zomba, the five-year ADAPT Plan project, which started in 2015, is being implemented in areas of three T/As namely; Mwambo, Ngwelero and M’biza, and has so far reached 9, 322 households.