India gives Malawi 34 Mahindra tractors for agriculture sector: Grant-in-aid
President Peter Mutharika says it is important to invest in the agriculture sector in order to attain the country’s goal of national development and to uplift the welfare of the people.
The President was speaking at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe on Tuesday when he received a donation of 34 tractors valued at $1million from the Indian government.
The Mahindra Tractors which include allied implements (Hallowers, Ploughs, and Ridgers) have been given under the grant-in-aid to the government of Malawi.
Professor Mutharika said agriculture remains one of the government’s sectors that is propelling Malawi’s economy and remains the country’s priority.
“The sector’s contribution to the country’s GDP remains relatively significant and I believe the situation will remain the same at least for the foreseeable future,” he said.
According to the Malawi leader, there is overwhelming empirical evidence world over that mechanized farming increases productivity and that farm machinery such as the tractors are crucial to agriculture development in any economy.
“Malawians will agree that reducing the burden of manual labour is a very important way of improving people’s quality of life. Reducing the hours spent on the farm and off-loading those hours to other off-farm activities is very important for the development of our communities especially to our women,” added President Mutharika.
He then said the donation will promote and help smallholder and medium scale farmers to graduate from the use of hand-hoe to modern methods of agriculture production.
Speaking during the same function, Indian High Commissioner to Malawi Mr Vanlalhumah said the donation does not symbolize that India has a lot of resources but that it realises the importance of friendship and sharing.
“We share common problem with Malawi since our relations began in 1964 but as a nation we value friendship and sharing.”
“We hope these tractors will help to strengthen these ties and improve the agriculture sector which remains Malawi’s bedrock for the economy,” said Mr Vanlalhumah
Minister of Agriculture Dr Allan Chiyembekeza said the tractor hire scheme will be distributed to farmers who are in cooperatives.
He said under proper management and usage, the scheme will help ensure food security in the country.
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The negative attitude by a vast number of Malawian is a worrying factor interms of development. We need to improve our thinking pattern in order to be able to acknowledge the good gestures. With the current state of mind we are no where near attract more donors and eventually we will continue to suffer. Mind you no matter how poor the country can be, its leaders and there families are always least directly affected. Ask Zimbabweans.
NO. 5: MANISH GO TO HELL THIS IS MALAWI.
Abwanawa is left handed?
Waste of Indian Tax payers money. Recently tractors that were donated a couple of years ago were sold by the government . Where did the money go. Also at the same time when the tractors were being sold of,Min. of Agri was publishing tenders for procurement of tractors.
The left hand does not know what the right hand is doing. Even the Indian High commission did not do its home work and wasted tax payers money
Anyway ETG has made/ will make money on this deal
Pankaj
It is our hope that these ones will be put to good use for the benefit of the nation as opposed to the ones that we received from the Libyan government under the Muluzi regime. The other lot was idle for the entire Muluzi/Bingu/JB tenure until they were sold off recently to party zealots at giveaway prices.
Malawi desperately requires ulimi otaya madzi. Ma tractor amenewa mukhoza kugawana. Paja kusolola ndichikhalidwe cha masiku ano.
DPP make use of this things,a lot of idle land in Malawi which can be used for crop production using waters of Lake Malawi,Shire river etc etc think deep
No 8, let me school you. india makes quality machinery and is improving and moving forward. Mahindra tractors are of very good quality at a good price. Similarly, Mahindra Tricycles, TVS Tricycles are also of good value in their own right, ask local Malawians. TATA trucks bought by the MDF, amidst misguided beliefs that they were of inferior quality, during Bakili and Malewezi reign, are still running, a testimony of reliability. Becareful not to be judgemental, times are gone and changed when we were brainwashed that only MADE IN ENGLAND goods were best. We cant develop with this type of… Read more »
If technology suits , let us focus on small and manageable tractors which we can afford to maintain and put to better use.
What is a tractor doing at Kamuzu Palace?