Farm Radio Trust launch farmers’ call centre
Farmers no longer have to worry on where to get help regarding their different agricultural activities, thanks to a farmers’ free call centre launched by Farm Radio Trust.
The call centre manager, Joyce Kaliwo, told Nyasa Times at the national agriculture fair currently under way in the commercial capital Blantyre that the initiative was to curb challenges farmers go through to access real time agricultural advisory services
Kaliwo said the initiative will catapult Malawi’s farming experience to greater heights, arguing it will cater for farmers where they cannot get physical advice from extension workers.
According to statistics the current extension worker to farmer ratio is 1:3000, a reality that is a backdrop to the farming industry in the country.
And Kaliwo said the development will “fill the gap.”
Farmers simply have to call 7111 to speak to experienced experts through the TNM mobile network, according to Kaliwo.
She also described the new system as the best saying a farmer can ask all his or her questions and get instant answers one by one and that so far twenty two thousand calls have been recorded.
Farm Radio Trust is a non-governmental organisation established in 2009 with a goal of promoting use of radio enhanced by other information communication technologies for improved sustainable rural livelihood in Malawi.
