Feature of the Week

Irrigation farming: Engine for economic growth

Most of the yield realised from irrigated fields is sold on roadside markets
Most of the yield realised from irrigated fields is sold on roadside markets

At the height of his election campaign in 1964, former President Kamuzu Banda spoke at length about the need to break the chains of political and economic dependence from colonialists.
Banda was convinced that with land as their basic resource, Malawians could achieve economic independence from the British.
The former president used every opportunity to advise his people to work very hard in their fields if they were to break the yoke of poverty and economic dependence.
“Chuma chili mu nthaka [the country’s wealth is in agriculture],” Kamuzu used to say.
Ironically, Malawi’s economy remains fragile, uncompetitive and highly dependent on donations five decades after attaining self-rule, its agriculture highly subsistent with vast irrigable land still lying idle.
Apart from suffering from a negative balance of payments owing to poor trade performance, the country is faced with a heavy debt burden.
Additionally, Malawians continue to suffer food and non-food production shortfalls, which are predominantly offset by aid and imports.
The United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) says the volume of imports and food aid reached an all-time high in 1992 and 1993 following the 1992 drought.
The declining agricultural productivity has resulted in increased importation of food items, including maize flour, potatoes and rice—-being sold in major supermarkets such as Shoprite.
This is compounded by a lack of local manufacturing of important inputs such as fertiliser and agricultural chemicals.
The bulk of Malawi’s agricultural exports are non-food crops such as tobacco, tea and cotton.
The value of exports peaked in 1998 and has since fallen back and a closer inspection of the trends shows that, despite several attempts, there has only been a slight diversification away from these traditional exports.
On the other hand, the balance on food trade alone has evolved rather differently, moving from a surplus in the late 1980s to a deficit from the 1990s to late.
This [food deficit], coupled with many other challenges, has led to the widening of income gap among individuals.
An economic commentator, Mavuto Bamusi, says the widening income gap between individuals coupled with rising inflation implies a worsening situation of food insecurity in a country.
Bamusi is, however, quick to state that the country could have spared this scenario if government developed irrigation industry to increase crop productivity and production, for food security for both domestic and export markets.
A study of the country’s potential for irrigation carried out recently identified 57 potential irrigation projects in the country.
Of these, seven are in the Northern Region, 12 in the Central Region and 38 in the South.
Out of the 38 potential sites for irrigation in the Southern Region,
25 are in the Lower Shire Valley.
The report says most of this land lies in the plains along the shores of Lake Malawi in Karonga and Nkhotakota, Salima, the Lake Chilwa Plain, the Lower Shire Valley and the flood plain of Limphasa River in Nkhata Bay in the northern part of the country.
“These areas have fertile soils and adequate water resources for the development of irrigated agriculture,” the report adds.
Deputy Director of Irrigation, Andrew Geoffrey Mwepa, says government is aware that when agriculture grows, overall economic growth reduces rural and urban poverty faster.
Mwepa explains that it is for this reason that government has placed agriculture and food security on top of the six priority areas under the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS), which define the direction Malawi needs to take in order to achieve economic growth and wealth creation.
He says through the Green Belt Initiative (GBI), government plans to develop this potential in various phases.
“The project shall entail extracting water from the river and conveying it by gravity to the irrigable area mainly through open canals. Government plans to develop at least 200 000 hectares of land under GBI by 2016,” discloses Mwepa.
He expresses optimism that government would realise substantial amount of foreign exchange after exporting cotton, paprika, sugarcane, rice and vegetables grown under the project.
But a Zomba-based irrigation farmer, Esther James of Namilongo Village, Traditional Authority Mlumbu, says unless government addresses the transport problems, it would be building castles in the air.
James explains that poor transport infrastructure is one of the limiting factors to the growth of irrigation in the country, besides poor financing.
She says the state of the country’s transport infrastructure is characterised by poor road network, which limits farmers to access good markets.
“Poor transport infrastructure limits market access for irrigation farmers. Good road network is critical to intensifying irrigation farming,” she explains, adding transportation costs account for more than 25 percent of the total value of her produce at times.
Bamusi says as an agro-based economy, Malawi needs to seriously invest in irrigation farming, saying failure to do so is similar to denying the engine of its necessary fuel for its movement.
The economist observes that irrigation farming could play a crucial role in eradicating extreme poverty and increasing food security, thereby stimulating the national economy.
“We have noted how low and uncertain agricultural productivity and production under rain-fed conditions has [affected yields over the past years] owing to unreliable rainfall and natural disasters such as erratic rains, dry spells, pest and diseases, droughts and floods. This, therefore, calls for concerted efforts in developing irrigation industry if we are to revitalise our economy,” he explains. n

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