By Alice Ndunya

Machinga, May 16, Mana: Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Benedicto Chambo, has urged farmers under the Lingoni Irrigation Scheme at Traditional Authority (TA) Chamba and the Domasi Scheme at TA Mposa in Machinga District to make use of available water resources for commercial farming in order to maximize profits.

Chambo made the remarks during a tour by officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Machinga District Council to assess the successes and challenges faced by farmers under the two irrigation schemes.

The Deputy Minister expressed disappointment with the level of community participation in irrigation farming at TA Chamba, where communities have failed to utilize 218 hectares of land under the Lingoni Scheme—constructed with K2.1 billion in funding from the World Bank.

He said the communities were missing opportunities that could help them to alleviate poverty, adding that failure to utilise the land would mean undermining government’s effort in ending hunger.

Chambo noted that Machinga is one of the districts in the country with abundant water reserves, adding, “It is surprising that Machinga has faced hunger in recent years.”

He therefore challenged farmers in the two irrigation schemes to think beyond farming for direct food consumption.

“Think beyond farming for food, let us consider farming as business. Start utilising all the resources available so that we should be producers and suppliers to food manufacturing companies and other districts,

“Government is working tirelessly to provide support through interventions such as irrigation farming. Let us utilise available resources,” the deputy minister added and  commended farmers under Domasi Scheme for establishing cooperatives.

“It is interesting to note that farmers at Domasi Scheme are utilising the land available. This shows commitment in contributing to development.

“The cooperatives you have are there to help you brand your produce so that you become big suppliers for manufacturing companies,” he said.

President of Water Users Association (WUA) at Lingoni Scheme, Mary Londola, assured the ministry that farmers were ready to embrace all opportunities provided by government including farm inputs loans to grow variety of crops to realise profits.

“We are ready to make a difference, to grow various crops for business,” Lingoni Scheme  WUA president added.

On environmental conservation, TA Chamba urged his subjects to stop producing charcoal, noting that its increasing production in the area is contributing to climate change.

“Cutting down of trees carelessly is destroying the environment, we need to stop charcoal production to protect our water reservoirs. We switch to irrigation farming which is more profitable and environmental friendly,” he said.

Lingoni scheme in TA Chamba, which was constructed in 2022 has 1,024 farmers who shares 218 hectares where as Domasi Scheme in TA Mposa which has been operational for about 50 years has 3,043 farmers who shares 500 hectares where crops like rice, vegetables, maize, being just to mention a few.