By Sheminah Nkhoma

Lilongwe, April 18, Mana:  Minister of Energy Ibrahim Matola has urged the public to adopt the use of solar energy as one way of generating electricity for agricultural production.

 Speaking during the launch of “Putting Energy to Work” which was held on Thursday at Sunbird Capital Hotel in Lilongwe, Matola said for Malawi to develop there is need to have new strategies in the energy sector.

“We want to achieve the Agricultural, Tourism and Mining (ATM) strategies of which energy is the enabler for all these sectors to be implemented.

“With the use of solar energy we will be able to pump in water which will be used for agriculture; this means that people can be harvesting more than 2 times a year,” said Matola.

He said there is need to review some energy policies in order to move with new technologies    for them to have opportunities in the energy sector.

“Indeed at our Ministry we need technical support; as such, we need to look into some acts which are in the policy for us to achieve the intended goals,” he said.

In her remarks, Coordinator for United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) in Malawi, Iris Kissiti, hailed the country for launching “Putting Energy to Work” project, saying it will greatly contribute to the agricultural sector, especially Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the country.

“As we know energy is a driver to economic development, so if we have productive use of energy, it means the agricultural production will be high in the country because the solar energy will generate a lot of water to use for irrigation, which will help in the economic growth,” said Kissiti.

Germany Ambassador to Malawi Ute Konig thanked the Malawi government and all donor partners for launching such a huge project, saying that solar energy will increase in the production for agribusinesses in the country.

The project is funded by German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) together with European Union (EU).