Simbi Phiri advises farmers to embrace modern technology

South Africa based business mogul and renowned African Philanthropist, Simbi Phiri, has advised farmers to seriously consider graduating from hand-hoe to mechanical forming, stressing that this is key to achieving transformation.

Phiri, who is also founder of Khato Civils, gave the advice during an exclusive interview on Times Television.

Apparently, Phiri has this year grown maize on a 700-hectare plot using state of the art technology.

He said in the United States of America, hoes are in museums to demonstrate they outlived their usefulness and relevance in the agriculture sector.

Spokesperson in the Ministry of Agriculture Gracian Lungu concurred with Simbi, saying the Malawi Government is committed in ensuring that Malawi adopts mechanical farming to replace hoes.

Lungu disclosed that the ministry has received many proposals on the same.

“Our ministry is working with the Ministry of Finance to jointly find a sustainable contractor on the same,” said Lungu.

Apart from tackling mechanization, Simbi also encouraged the Malawi Government to do more on tourism development, citing an example of Lake Malawi, which he said is being abused.

“Lake Malawi, which is our national resource, is being abused because currently there’s very little investment there to attract high-end tourists that can cough more than 200 000 rands in bills in a day,” he observed.

He also expressed concern over rising cases of corruption. Phiri said he would be happy to see Malawi ending corruption.

“Corruption must come to an end if this impoverished nation is to develop, country cannot develop if government employees go to work to discuss how to plunder their nation  that is why I always say that development of this nation (Malawi) will require not just people with theoretical knowledge, But those with practical knowledge too,” he said.

Simbi Phiri is currently working as the head of Khato Civils, which is a construction company committed to contributing to infrastructure development in the African continent.

Khato Civils is currently a rising African giant in the construction and design field.

Simbi Phiri was born in a small village in Malawi called Nkhoma in Lilongwe Rural East. He was born to a Malawian father and his mother who was from Botswana.

He is a true Malawian from Nkhoma in Lilongwe. He was grown up in Chembe before moving to Botswana with his father.