A Malawian government minister currently on a governance course in China has used the moment to renew his call for the long-awaited Mzuzu-Usisya road, holding up China's model of blending farming with tourism as proof of what Malawi could achieve at home.

In a Facebook post, Ben Phiri pointed to Usisya in Nkhata Bay as a prime example of untapped potential, describing his first visit to the area during last year's campaign as a revelation.

He said he was "stunned" by what he found -- pristine beaches on Lake Malawi, dramatic mountains, cool breezes, fertile farmland, sweet bananas and welcoming communities -- calling it, in his words, "a GEM."

But Phiri said that potential remains locked away because of the area's poor road access.

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He argued Usisya has everything needed to become a major tourism hub -- one where agriculture and tourism intersect, youth find employment, local councils generate revenue, and the country as a whole benefits.

It's for that reason, he said, that he remains a committed advocate for construction of the Mzuzu-Usisya road, singling out a critical 30km stretch as the missing link.

He described the road as far more than infrastructure, framing it as the key to connecting farmers to markets, patients to hospitals, and tourists to what he called paradise.

Drawing a direct line to his current trip, Phiri said China has demonstrated that integrating agriculture with tourism can work -- and argued Malawi should aim to replicate that success in Usisya.

He closed his post with an open invitation to Malawians who haven't visited the area: go and see it for themselves, he said, and they'll understand exactly what he means.

The post is the latest in a series from Phiri promoting the integration of farming and tourism as a development model, a theme he has been building on since an earlier post on the same subject.