‘Dead’ irrigation pumps resuscitated

The Mega Farms Unit in the Ministry of Agriculture says it is striving to promote mechanisation of farming, including resuscitating abandoned irrigation pumps to boost production in the country.

The unit’s director Alfred Mwenifumbo said government has procured some tractors and teamed up with private sector owners of farm machinery to lend them out to other farmers at a cost.

Beyond tractors, under the new megafarms roadmap, government intends to use 70 pumps that were lying idle for almost 13 years at the Plant, Vehicle Hire and Engineering Services (PVHES) warehouse in Lilongwe.

The pumps cost government $15 million (about K26 billion) and were part of the $50 million (K87 billion) credit line from India which also bought tractors that the Office of the Ombudsman found to have been abused, with Malawians benefitting little from the package.

In 2014, Cabinet recommended that the pumps be sold, but the response was poor, according to a report prepared by the Ministry of Irrigation and Water Development at the time, which further recommended price cuts to attract people to buy them.

“Due to poor response in 2014, Cabinet approved that the selling price be subsidised so as to make them affordable. Applications were received, evaluated and recommended to issue pumps to responsive applicants submitted for ministerial approval, which has not been granted to date,” reads the report to the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) prepared in February 2020.

But Mwenifumbo said their assessment shows that the pumps can effectively work and support the mega farm initiatives.

“In fact, PVHES has assured us that these work. There is no degradation. I think it was just a case of negligence.” 

Most of the pumps could not be used due to high running and maintenance cost, according to a 2020 report.

The Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources and Greenbelt Authority that once used these machines, corroborated this information.