Government says it has mobilised over 931 medium and large-scale farmers to produce various crops in its megafarms initiative.
The development is part of the Ministry of Agriculture’s plan to mobilise middle-scale farmers and institutions such as the Malawi Defence Force and Greenbelt Authority (GBA) to grow 218 000 MT of maize on 48 400 hectares (ha) of existing irrigation schemes this year.
Information from the GBA and the Mid-Year Budget Review Statement that Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Simplex Chithyola Banda tabled in Parliament on Wednesday shows that if the current pace of major farms implementation is sustained, the Lazarus Chakwera administration could be on course to help usher in a new era of agricultural production and productivity.
While the Ministry of Agriculture is yet to release figures showing the full picture of what megafarms have achieved this year, GBA’s responses to our questionnaire show rapid progress in off-rainy season output across farms under its domain.
GBA is implementing projects at Mlambe Irrigation Scheme (formerly Nkopola) in Mangochi and Lweya Irrigation Scheme in Nkhata Bay. The authority is not working at Chipoka, but rather at Chikwawa Irrigation Scheme in Salima District.
GBA spokesperson Sam Majamanda said in the last growing season, they produced over 150 metric tonnes (MT) of maize from Chikwawa Irrigation Scheme, which was supplied to the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA).
He said: “At Mlambe, the Authority supported farmers and they produced over 350MT of maize. At Lweya and Nchalo irrigation schemes, the authority did not do any production activities as it focused on scheme rehabilitation and construction works that will lead to high yield production upon completion.
“During 2024 winter season, GBA is producing maize under irrigation at Mlambe Irrigation Scheme at a land size of over 48ha while rehabilitation works are in progress. This maize is being harvested currently and it will be supplied to NFRA again.”
Majamanda further said construction of the Nthola-Ilola Rice Scheme in Karonga is at 20 percent while the other component of the project, which is the rice processing factory, is at 100 percent completion in terms of the actual factory and machinery installation.
This far, the GBA is working at Nthola-Ilola in Karonga, Lweya in Nkhata Bay, Chikwawa (in Salima), Mlambe in Mangochi and Nchalo in Chikwawa District. It also has responsibility over the Malawi Government-Inoselia partnership that runs the Greenbelt Greenhouses Limited (GGL) in Lilongwe.
“Suffice to say it has also entered into a partnership with Mpatsa Holdings Limited to form a company called Mpatsa-Greenbelt Mega Farms which should be taking off shortly.
“The authority is funded by the Malawi Government and the government’s purse tends to be over-stretched due to increased national needs. However, we appreciate that government does provide us with resources that have since allowed us to get this far in all our projects,” added Majamanda.
During his Mid-Year Budget Review Statement Chithyola Banda said government was banking on the megafarms initiative to deal with the current socioeconomic challenges facing Malawi.
The minister said: “Malawi is an agricultural-based economy and food prices are often closely tied to agricultural production. In response, the government has implemented measures to support food security, including increasing support for irrigation schemes and promoting agricultural productivity.
“We are also prioritising the rehabilitation of existing irrigation infrastructure to reduce the vulnerability of our food production systems to climate shocks. For example, through the Green Belt Authority, we have mobilised over 931 medium and large-scale farmers covering nearly 40 000ha of irrigated land.”
Under the 2023/24 roadmap, the mega farm programme targets a minimum of 175 000ha of agricultural land, starting with 25 000ha in 2023/24 and scaling up to 175 000ha by 2028/29.
Megafarms will be centres of large-scale production and anchor other farmers in surrounding communities by attracting private markets for inputs and outputs, a design that is anticipated to revolutionise the local agricultural sector.
The Malawi 2063 which describes what the government aspires to accomplish before the nation’s centennial, specifies a need to develop mega farms to increase agricultural production, productivity and commercialisation as well as to contribute to industrialisation.
