Zomba farmers challenged on irrigation farming
Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture Irrigation and Water Development Erica Maganga has urged farmers to take irrigation farming seriously if the country is to eradicate hunger and poverty.
Maganga made the call on Wednesday when she toured four irrigation schemes at Chingale Extension Planning Area-(EPA) in Zomba.
She said government was promoting irrigation farming to address food shortage, malnutrition and poverty through provision of farm inputs.
Said Maganga: “Irrigation is the only solution to some of the problems Malawi is facing, if there can be joint efforts between the community, development partners and government.”
On the looming hunger in the country, she said government has put in place measures to ensure that maize is available in all depots of State produce trader, Admarc.
Zomba Chingale, member of Parliament (MP) Wallace Chawawa said people in the area have land, water and man power to expand and maximise utilisation of the scheme but fail to do so due to limited resources.
According to Zomba District Agriculture Office, the district has nine EPAs, and 60 000 hectares of land potential for irrigation development. Only 1705.8 hectares are developed under smallholder farming.
