By George Mponda

Karonga, April 30, Mana: National Economic Empowerment Fund (NEEF) has launched a Micro Irrigation Farm Inputs Loan initiative in Karonga, aiming to boost agricultural productivity and enable farmers to harvest three times a year

Speaking on Wednesday during the launch at Mwakalenga Village in the area of Paramount Chief Kyungu, where members of Wiyule Irrigation Scheme received inputs worth K30 million, NEEF's Director of Finance Benedicto Kananzi said they want to boost agriculture production in Malawi by providing loans for farmers to be engaged in irrigation.

"We want to support 200,000 Malawian farmers with nearly K100 billion in loans. The initiative aims to boost food security, create jobs, and generate foreign exchange by providing modern farm equipment, fertilizers, seeds, and pesticides. The goal is to enable farmers to harvest three times a year, increasing productivity and exports," Kananzi said.

"Karonga has plenty of water sources, so farmers, especially women and youths, should take advantage of these loans to keep themselves busy throughout the year and get paid three times while using farming methods which are not manually exhausting," he added.

On his part, acting Deputy Programme Manager for Karonga Agriculture Development Division (ADD), Dr Martin Ng'oma, said the initiative will boost food security for people in Karonga, a disaster-prone district.

"Besides being food secure, farmers will also be financially stable from the sales of their produce, which they will be harvesting three times in year through the proper utilization of these loans," Ng'oma said.

Chairperson for Wiyule Irrigation Scheme, Bertha Mogha, hailed NEEF for the loan, saying they will use the inputs to expand their 50-acre scheme.

"We have received a solar water pump, 104 bags of fertilizer and 350 kilograms of maize seed worth K30 million, which will help us expand our scheme, which has 50 members. We were not producing enough since the work was being done manually, but with this solar water pump, we will increase production as well as membership of our scheme," Mogha said.