National Economic Empowerment Fund (Neef) has supported farmers in Karonga District with farm input loans to embark on winter cropping.
Speaking on Tuesday after the launch of the farm inputs loans at Vilaule Wiyule in Traditional Authority Kyungu in the district, Neef director of finance Benedicto Kananza said the initiative aims to improve food and income security both at district and national levels.
He said: “We provide various types of loans which include agriculture loan. We also provide loans specifically for irrigation farming as we cannot only depend on rain-fed agriculture.
“Therefore, this facility will help farmers to cultivate three times a year and achieve food and income security in the country. The programme is in two phases with each phase targeting 100 000 customers with 15 000 hectares of cultivable land which will require 400 bags of fertiliser and a million kilogrammes of maize seeds and other equipment for irrigation valued at over K80 billion and Neef will invest K100 billion.”
On her part, Wiyule Irrigation Scheme chairperson Bertha Mogha commended Neef for the programme, saying the initiative will improve food, nutrition and income security at household level.
“Previously, we used to depend on rain-fed agriculture. However, this initiative will inspire smallholder farmers to improve their livelihood at household level,” she said.
Karonga Agriculture Development Division (ADD) acting deputy programme manager Martin Ng’oma said the micro-irrigation loan aims at improving farming techniques, promoting value addition and expanding market access for agricultural products.
