Minister of Agriculture Sam Kawale has urged farmers with access to water bodies in Nkhotakota District to embrace irrigation farming to improve their crop production.
The minister said this on Saturday when he inspected Chilingali and Bua irrigation schemes that were affected by floods in February this year.
Scheme. | Kondwani Kandiado
Kawale also asked farmers to focus on commercial farming to ensure food security in the country and to generate income from the agriculture sector.
He said: “I wanted to inspect the schemes to see the way forward and how they can rehabilitated.
“We will continue to visit irrigation schemes that were damaged as we source funding to rehabilitate them.”
Chilingali Irrigation Scheme Water Users Association president Twaibu Maulana said the scheme was helping them to generate money for school fees and feed their families.
He said: “I thank the minister for his visit as it will help to address the problem. We, therefore, ask government to help rehabilitate the scheme.
“Some of the works to be done include constructing a dyke along Kaombe River to prevent floods.”
The ministry’s director of irrigation system Geoffrey Mwepa said schemes are beneficial because they provide sources of food and income.
“However, the district continues to face problems of droughts and flooding that affect irrigation farming. These are challenges that need attention,” he said.
Meanwhile, the ministry is encouraging people in the country to embrace irrigation farming to maximise crop production in the face of prolonged droughts due to climate change shocks.
