Govt fails to adhere to guidelines on mega farms

Government has failed to adhere to standards it set on mega farms, raising fears that it did not do its homework, Nation on Sunday has established.

The Ministry of Agriculture has opened Mlambe Irrigation Farm 9 in Mangochi, Lweya Irrigation Farm in Nkhata Bay and Chipoka Cotton Farm in Salima, but they do not satisfy what is contained in the concept paper.

According to the ministry’s concept, a mega farm was expected to operate as a large-scale production unit in an anchor farm model that would provide support services to smallholder farmers organised in groups or through apex organisations such as associations or cooperatives.

The concept says three farms would be established with each region having one with a total area of 10 000 hectares (ha) to cater for crop and livestock production.

But the total available land so far is 1 620 ha comprising Mlambe 800 ha, Lweya 700 ha and Chipoka 120 ha.

Several farms as stipulated in the concept note are yet to be identified to make up for the remaining hectares.

The mega farms, according to the concept note we have seen, were expected to have fully established offices, human resources and heavy machinery, among others.

“The mega farm concept aims at establishment of large-scale production units at one place with having all necessary supporting resources i.e. human, capital, equipment and infrastructure from land preparation to marketing.

“The farm is involved in producing various crops and livestock on the farm and also under an out-grower approach,” reads in part the concept.

The concept also shows that each mega farm is supposed to have value addition/processing plants for maize, soya, groundnuts and sunflower, livestock feed processing/production unit, warehouses for different crops with facilities such as mechanical stacking machines with conveyors, seed/grain processors, weighing and bagging.

It also expects the farms to have machinery such as forklifts, heavy duty tractors and their allied equipment such as ploughs, ridgers, harrows, rippers, planters, applicators and motorised sprayers

But our investigation has established that the three mega farms do not meet these minimum standards.

Minister of Agriculture Samuel Kawale confirmed last week that the mega farms do not have some basic facilities such as warehouses, but was quick to say the government is yet to mobilise some equipment.

But agriculture expert Tamani Nkhono-Mvula argued that failure to adhere to set standards smacks lack of preparation on the part of government.

He also accused government of failing to explain sustainability mechanisms of the farms.

Nkhono-Mvula said: “This is why the concept is good on paper, but different on the ground. We need to also know if this is being done for food security or industrial development. If it is being done for food security, then I am not seeing any future on these mega farms.”

He has urged government to ensure that the farms have the infrastructure and machinery spelled out in the concept.

Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources economist Horace Phiri said it does not make sense for the government to set up mega farms and not grow high value crops.

He said this is in contrast with the mega farms concept which states that they will grow diverse crops such as soya, groundnuts and sunflower as well as raise livestock.

The concept note further states that by producing various types of crops it would provide a ready market to farmers.

Mlambe is expected to grow maize with estimated crop output of 10 000 metric tonnes (MT) under a two cycle production while Lweya is estimated to produce 12 000MT of rice through the same production cycle. On the other hand, Chipoka is estimated to produce 4 000MT of rice.

In monetary terms, Chipoka is expected to generate K1.2 billion and Mlambe K3 billion.

Apart from the mega farms, government is also talking to Salima Sugar Company and Illovo Sugar Malawi to grow cereals.

But when contacted on the matter, Kawale said no formal agreement has been reached.

Reads part of the concept note: “This means the farm provides a ready market for farmers’ produce at a price agreed between the farmer and the farm which may be the government set minimum farm gate price or above.”

The ministry has negotiated with local farmers, through their water users associations, to go into a shareholding partnership to jointly operate the farms.

Kawale said 25 full-time farm workers including tractor operators have since been employed at Mlambe Irrigation Farm, with an additional 200 people expected to be engaged in the course of the agricultural year.

He said Lweya Irrigation Farm has state-of-the-art irrigation equipment while Chipoka Cotton Farm has warehouses for cotton seed cleaning machinery and extra warehouses in which a ginnery and textile factory will be installed.

According to the minister, 35 full-time workers will be recruited at Lweya Irrigation Farm and an additional 300 in the course of the 2022/23 season while 10 full-time employees have been engaged at Chipoka Cotton Farm, and an additional 100 are expected to be recruited.

But when asked how much has been invested, Kawale said they are yet to compute the figures.

But Phiri argued that this does not conform to the mega farms concept, stressing the mega farms are not operational with minimal staff.

He also argued that the projections do not tally with the total land area.

However, Kawale was not available for comment when Nation on Sunday wanted further clarification on why government is yet to provide the equipment.

In a separate interview on Wednesday, Mwapata Institute executive director William Chadza said people should not expect much from the farms this season.

“Chipoka, Lweya and Mlambe seem to be in set-up mode and I think we should not expect much this farming season. Unless they are working with surrounding farmers who would in turn sell their produce to these mega farms,” he said.

According to the concept, the mega farms were supposed to be operational by June 2022.

At that time, President Lazarus Chakwera expressed dissatisfaction on the slow pace in setting up the farms and gave Ministry of Health a six month ultimatum to have at least one operational.

To cut on cost of inputs, especially seeds, the mega farms concept states that the farms will produce their own seeds which will undergo seed inspection, testing and certification as prescribed under the Seed Act and the extra seed will be sold to farming communities both within Malawi and beyond.

The concept further anticipates that the mega farms will be easy to sustain themselves as their products will be sold at competitive prices while the by-products will be used for livestock feed processing as well as soil fertility and structure improvement for sustained crop production.

The mega farms, which are part of Tonse Alliance’s campaign promise, aim at fully mechanising crop production activities from land preparation to post harvest handling; hence, timely implementation of recommended activities apart from use of high quality inputs.