Annual Agri-Innovation Forum Brings Together 1,200 Stakeholders
The forum focused on practical digital agriculture tools and private-sector market collaboration, with demonstration zones attracting significant interest from rural associations.
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The NASFAM Annual Agri-Innovation Forum attracted over 1,200 participants this year, making it the best-attended edition since the event's founding. Held over two days at a venue in Lilongwe, the forum featured exhibition zones, panel discussions, and practical demonstration sessions covering digital tools, climate-adaptive practices, and market linkage innovations.
A dedicated digital agriculture zone allowed participating technology providers to demonstrate mobile-based advisory tools, weather forecasting applications, and digital commodity tracking systems. Farmer representatives from twelve associations participated in hands-on sessions, with many reporting that the demonstrations gave them a clearer picture of how digital tools could practically fit into their existing farming systems.
Panel discussions on private-sector collaboration drew significant engagement, with speakers from processor companies, financial institutions, and logistics providers exploring how they could structure commercial arrangements that work for smallholder-scale supply. Several exploratory partnership conversations were initiated between NASFAM associations and private-sector representatives on the sidelines of the forum.
A youth-in-agriculture session highlighted the growing number of young farmers engaging in structured market systems through NASFAM-affiliated associations. Several speakers under the age of 30 shared their experiences transitioning from subsistence farming to commercial production, and discussed what support structures made the biggest difference in their journeys.