By Moses Nyirenda

Lilongwe, February 4, Mana: Minister of Agriculture, Sam Kawale, has advised farmers in the country to invest more in irrigation agriculture if they are to improve their productivity.

Speaking in Kasungu on Saturday after visiting Vikuyu and Kasungu Agro Wealth Creation Cooperatives, which are beneficiaries of Agriculture Commercialization and Mechanization (AGCOM) project, Kawale said farmers should not only rely on rain-fed agriculture.

“We have experienced floods and drought in some parts of the country which have reduced crop harvest.

“That is why in the National Economic Empowerment Fund (NEEF) agriculture loans, grants in AGCOM and loans in Mega farms, we are encouraging every person who has access to land that has water, to use the loan to invest in irrigation,” Kawale said.

The Minister said now is the time farmers should start harvesting three times a year through the use of rivers, dams and lakes.

He said if farmers adopt this, there will be two harvests realizes be 100 percent irrigation.

“Malawi has a lot of water that we are supposed to utilize. We have been blessed so let us use the blessing by investing in irrigation,” he said.

He appealed to farmers to take advantage of the idle arable land for farming.

Kawale was confident that irrigation and use of idle arable land would assist in sustaining food security in the country as farmer’s productivity would improve.

Government has invested K500 billion in AGCOM, K20 billion in mega farms and K17 billion in NEEF.

Member of Parliament (MP) for Kasungu East, Madalitso Kazombo, commended government for its commitment in supporting farmers in the country.

He emphasized on the need for awareness so that as many farmers as possible reap benefits from the projects.

“It has been noted that many people do not know about the projects. Let them know about this so that they access the loans and grants,” Kazombo explained.