National Economic Empowerment Fund (Neef) chief executive officer Humphreys Mdyetseni has urged smallholder farmers in Mzimba District to form groups to access loans to venture into irrigation farming.
He said this on Thursday at Edingeni in Traditional Authority (T/A) M’Mbelwa in the district when Neef launched the Micro-Drip Irrigation Loan Programme.
Said Mdyetseni: “The loan programme is coming to complement rain-fed agriculture, which has suffered heavily from dry spells, impacting on the country’s food security.
“So, we want our smallholder farmers to be in groups of 50 to 100 members and apply for the input loans. We will not give farmers money, but agriculture inputs such as solar powered water pumps, fetiliser, seeds and pesticides.”
On his part, Mzimba South director of agriculture services Owen Kumwenda welcomed the initiative and urged farmers to embrace it.
He said the district’s crop production estimates show a decline of 10 percent this year.
“The dry spells have affected our farmers. Therefore, this loan programme has come at the right time because it has the potential to address the persistent food shortages smallholder farmers are facing,” he said.
Mchirapundu Farmers Cooperative chairperson Grey Kasalu said their group received inputs worth K24 million.
“With the irrigation equipment and farming inputs received, it will be easy for us to venture into winter farming to maximise our crop production,” he said.
Neef has also distributed farm inputs in Mchinji, Nkhata Bay and Karonga districts to enable farmers grow maize during the winter to improve crop production
