Govt urged to take irrigation seriously

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Tamani Nkhono Mvula

Civil Society Agriculture Network (CISANET) says the country will remain food insecure if Malawi government continues disregarding irrigation farming.

CISANET national coordinator, Tamani Nkhono-Mvula, said this when commenting on the prolonged dry spell that has hit the country.

Nkhono-Mvula described the overdependence on rains as unfortunate and said Malawi has good soil and water sources which can be used for irrigation farming.

Tamani Nkhono Mvula
Irrigation is the way out; Mvula.

According to Nkhono-Mvula, farmers in the country should be encouraged to consider irrigation farming to avoid food shortage.

The CISANET national coordinator revealed that recently the ministry of agriculture was given K50 billon for the agriculture subsidy programme but 80 percent of the money was allocated to rain-fed agriculture while the remaining 20 percent was for irrigation farming.

Nkhono-Mvula argued that more resources should be allocated to irrigation farming.

He said people in the country have the potential to use irrigation farming but more power should come from authorities.