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K2.5BN irrigation project courts investors

Mpatsa Holdings Limited is still looking for investors for the $3.2 million (about K2.5 billion) PV solar powered irrigation farming project at Khonjeni in Thyolo.

Mpatsa Holdings managing director Jimmy Koreia-Mpatsa said in an e-mailed response that the company has had discussions with several investors and was hopeful of a positive outcome.
He said: “We have divided the project into phases and have started implementing it with the first phase of putting 200 hectares of land under irrigation.”

Mpatsa and members of his family touring the irrigation project
According to Mpatsa, the company is still planning to put another400 hectares under irrigation and crops such as groundnuts, maize, beans, wheat and vegetables are being grown at the farm which employs 500 workers during peak period.
Khonjeni Estate sits on a 700-hectare land and has a dam to replace the present irrigation system driven by power supplied by Escom.

For many years the estate has been registering minimum success with average harvests mainly from rain fed agriculture cropping.
The farm was one of the projects sold to investors during the Malawi Investors Forum last year.

According to a statement from the Malawi Investments Trade Centre (Mitc), Khonjeni Estate intends to utilise its water dam to produce two cycles of harvest in a year thereby contributing to the national food security through cultivation of crops such as maize and rice.

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