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When insufficient funding suffocates Green Belt Initiative

Contract was awarded to Apollo International Ltd, financed under credit from EXIM Bank –India. Construction commenced in December 2013 and to date construction is at about 10 percent. The construction period is 24 months.

However, there are fears that the sugar factory which is steadily moving might be one a white elephant because currently there are no resources to finance development of sugarcane, the factory raw materials for the production of sugar.

Njoloma outlined plans for 2014/2015 financial year but was quick to point out that the success was subject to availability of resources, presently considered inadequate.

He said the Initiative wants to complete construction of 530 hectares scheme, at 95 percent, construct 1 000 hectare scheme for medium scale sugarcane growers, complete the construction of the sugar factory, develop sugarcane seed nursery and produce interim crops on 700 hectare.

Cisanet programmes director Cindy Kibombwe said the organisation will embark on budget consultations to lobby for support for Green Belt Initiative.

“We will also come up with policy briefs especially on the gaps on approach to the Green Belt Initiative. We really need to come up with an action plan,” she told the meeting in her closing remarks. “We also need to come out strongly on the Public Private Partnership on the Green Belt Initiative.”

Meanwhile, as a way of keeping the land productive, before the sugarcane is developed, in 2012/2013, soya beans was planted on 130 hectare by 346 farming households, and they realised about 81 metric tonnes. At least 250 farming households planted maize on 100 hectares.

In 2013/2014 farmers planted legumes (soya and g/nuts) for seed and maize on 530 hectares as a commercial drive.

The Green Belt Initiative, a concept of former president Bingu wa Mutharika, is a stretch of land along the lakes and perennial rivers, supporting irrigated agriculture and offering social and economic services to a community.

The idea is to transforming Malawi into a wealthy nation with assured livelihoods and sustainable utilisation of land and water resources and increase irrigated agricultural production and productivity through well developed and managed infrastructure for comprehensive land and water resources as well as effective service delivery.

The programme is targeting a coverage of about one million hectares against the 96 000 hectares currently under irrigation. The program is being implemented along Lake Malawi, Lake Malombe and perennial rivers. Target is a distance of 20 km from the water source along the banks of water bodies under irrigation

According to the government blue print, the Green Belt Initiative will consolidate the gains from Fertiliser Input Subsidy Programme (Fisp); hedge against negative effects of climate change, unreliable rainfall patterns and droughts and dry spells, now not uncommon in the country.

Economic and social situation and poverty analysis show that despite recent gains in economic growth rates (seven percent annually between 2004-2008), Malawi remains one of the least developed countries in the region, with a per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $288, and is ranked at 153 of the 192 countries, according to the UNDP Human Development Index 2010.

Agriculture is the mainstay of the Malawi’s economy and accounts for over 36 percent of GDP and 90 percent of export earnings. The agricultural sector is divided into two main sub-sectors of smallholders and estates. About 75 percent of our total agricultural output is generated by the smallholder sub-sector.

It is only through mass participation in the economic activities like agriculture that would bring about meaningful growth in our economies.

In this regard, Malawi has put in place a number of initiatives in order to generate growth from agriculture that would ensure that the lives of people especially in the rural areas are uplifted.

Government continues to implement policies and measures that increase efficiency in the agriculture sector. Since 2005, the Government of Malawi has been implementing the Farm Input Subsidy Programme (Fisp) with the aim of increasing agricultural productivity and to improve food security at both household and national levels.

But the Green Belt Initiative which aims at intensifying irrigation farming in different localities along Lakes and other perennial rivers is yet to fully take off several years after it was launched although government has pledged it implementation

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