Massive irrigation project experts jet in, to tap water  from Lake Malawi – Minister

Minister of Agriculture George Chaponda has told parliament that irrigation experts who are supposed to initiate a massive irrigation project to tap water from Lake Malawi are in the country.

Chaponda however could not give details on when the work would start of tapping the vast fresh Lake Malawi waters into fields for farming to vert another food shortage next year.

He said he would come up with a ministerial statement.

President Peter Mutharika, however, told a rally in Karonga recently that the government has already secured solar panels that would turn the Sun rays into energy to pump the water from the fields.

”This is not a simple project, it is not like drawing water in buckets from the lake to fields, this involves a lot of energy to pump the water to reach far areas,” said Mutharika.

Malawi needs at least 1.2 million metric tonnes in view of the drought and floods.