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Malawi to begin irrigation farming to boost food- Bingu

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Agencies 27 August, 2008 05:07:00
image Bingu: We are going into irrigation farming in a big way

Malawi, until recently a net importer of food, is to start irrigation farming to help boost food production and end hunger, President Bingu Mutharika said on Tuesday.

The government will establish a green belt along its giant lake Malawi, which straddles one third of the country, Mutharika told reporters before departing for Norway to attend a conference on a green African revolution.

"Where there is a river, we will try to start irrigation. We should grow everything so that we have food all the time," he said in remarks quoted on state radio.

"God gave us water. We have a lot of rivers and lakes. We are going into irrigation farming in a big way."

Despite the huge fresh-water supply from Lake Malawi, Africa's third-largest, agricultural experts say only two percent of land is irrigated and most farming remains on a small scale and dependent on rain.

At the Norway conference, Mutharika said he would be seeking international investment to boost Malawi food production in order "to have food not only for ourselves, but the world.

"We don't eat much rice but we are going to produce a lot of rice to feed the rest of the world."

Mutharika said his poor nation will "no longer beg food, especially maize, from outside."

"For the past three years, Malawians agreed not to beg maize. We can beg other things, but not maize," Mutharika said in an apparent reference to the government's 50-million-dollar (35-million euro) programme of subsidised fertiliser which enabled peasant farmers to access cheap fertiliser.

Sixty percent of Malawi's 13 million citizens who live below the poverty line met their food needs for the first time in seven years in 2006 with a harvest of 2.2 million tonnes of maize.

Famine threatened up to five million people in 2005 following drought, and the Mutharika administration, just one year in office, spent more than 100 million dollars to import more than 400,000 tonnes of food to avert hunger.

Up to 85 percent of farming in Malawi is done by small-holder farmers who grow mainly maize, the country's staple. --AFP

Comments (7 posted):

mb on 27 August, 2008 06:53:52
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Good dreams YE. We can start with the abandoned rice schemes and then spread. * have seen that Kasinthula has transformed. We can exploit the Lower shire & Lakeshore much more. See how Illovo is profiting from our shire.

* understand that the kapichira Hydro Power scheme was to serve dual purpose - power generation and an inlet to a canal to irrigate the lower states. Wonderful isn'* Your Excellency.

This is not a one day adventure. It takes time, years. * would therefore beg those who may come after you to continue with the programm. Experience has shown that well intended projects fail mainly due to non continuity more especially in this democratic era. Thumbs up at least for talking about it.
moses mithi on 27 August, 2008 07:00:42
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Bingo unamtima wakovwila not wakwibila wanthu ,chiuta wakovwire mnthowa yose iwe dada,ichi ntchisambizgo kwa Bakili ukatipuluskanga waka, everyone like Bingo.Bakili tavuka nawe bad we are poor coz of u.bingo wakugawizga ndalama yayi.wakupa wanthu mahala
moses mithi on 27 August, 2008 07:00:42
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Bingo unamtima wakovwila not wakwibila wanthu ,chiuta wakovwire mnthowa yose iwe dada,ichi ntchisambizgo kwa Bakili ukatipuluskanga waka, everyone like Bingo.Bakili tavuka nawe bad we are poor coz of u.bingo wakugawizga ndalama yayi.wakupa wanthu mahala
Fraction on 27 August, 2008 08:36:21
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* wish all politicians were united on these kinds of projects. Combining irrigation around the Lake and along river banks already rich in alluvial soils and rain-dependent agriculture would be synergistic as well as safe with irrigation being some kind of fallback position in seasons of drought.
KEEP IT UP BINGU AND ALL PLAYERS!
mugone on 27 August, 2008 09:55:47
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This irrigation song has been sang for so long with little action like the Chitipa-Karonga road song. Let'* hope this time round it'* for real. It'* painful to see a lot of irrigation potential lands just lying idle and people scrambling for food/maize at the markets. Let'* use mechanised irrigation at very large scale rather than just depending on poor treadle pumps for smallholder farmers. If can never achieve food self sufficiency and even export if we will continue using the hoe. no country has managed that. Talk of Zimbabwe before its current situation. The East Asian tigers also mechnaised their agricultural production.
leah on 28 August, 2008 01:24:32
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indee MUTHUWANKULU,CHAKACHAMAWA WOYEEEEEEEEEE!NOBODY TO COMLET WITH YOU BINGU
mwanafyale on 28 August, 2008 05:36:36
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please Bingu don`* talk the talk it time to walk the walk.thats the problem with our leaders they are good talkers,there are coutries like China, Taiwan they don`* rely on the rains but we have never held that there is hunger so why should we starve when we have freish water
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