By Leah Malimbasa
Chikwawa, October 12, Mana: President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera has reiterated his commitment to eradicate poverty and ensure food security in the country.
Speaking at Nsangwe Community Ground in Chikwawa on Wednesday after inspecting Shire Valley Transformation Programme (SVTP), Chakwera said SVTP coupled with good roads, railway line and better bridges will succeed in transforming lives in the country.
Chakwera added that STVP will make Malawi self-reliant and food secure as the agriculture sector will significantly improve due to irrigation and modern farming methods.
“Malawi will not be the same, this may seem like something which is taking a lot of time but for something of this great magnitude and impact, you need time to lay a good foundation to build on,” he said.
Chakwera added that it is now time for Malawi to commit towars investing now to harvest more in future as handouts are not sustainable.
The project which started in 2018, has four main components namely; irrigation service and infrastructure improvement; land tenure and natural resources management support; agriculture development and commercialization.
In recent years, Malawi’s predominantly rain-fed agriculture industry has been facing devastating droughts, floods and storms caused by climate change.
Nearly four in every 100 Malawian aged over 18 rely on agriculture, but many farmers lack technologies for irrigating and diversifying their crop production.
According to SVTP Coordinator, Dr. Stanley Khaila, the project is expected to benefit farmers in Chikwawa and Nsanje as well as existing private farms including Illovo Sugar Company.
“Currently five cooperatives have already been registered and its members are being trained on how to commercialise farming and grow as farmers,” said Khaila.
Khaila added that the initiative will be able to irrigate 43,370 hectares and the irrigation which will start in 2024 will benefit a lot of families with women taking up 50.6 percent of the total number of beneficiaries.
One of the prospective beneficiaries of the programme, Martha Francisco said the project will enable participating families to transform economically.
“It will also empower women to be financially independent through the profits that we will be making from irrigation farming in our respective cooperatives,” said Francisco.
She added that the transformation programme will also reduce school dropouts as some learners in Chikwawa were dropping out due to unavailability of school fees.
The project which is expected to be completed by 2031, is funded by Malawi Government, the World Bank and the African Development Bank to the tune of $7.2 million (about K7.5 billion) $160 million (about K1.6 trillion) and $60 million (about K62 billion), respectively.
STVP accelerates national strides in the global race to achieve UN Sustainable Development Goals to end hunger and poverty by 2030.
SDG2 promotes sustainable agriculture to end hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition in the waning decade.
The goal is closely knitted with SDG3 on ensuring healthy lives and the well-being of everyone.
Instead of concentrating on the programme befitting the occasion President Chakwera and his party SG chose to politicise the opening of Phalombe Hospital. In life it is believed that a person who has committed a crime or sin will at times runaway from his own shadow. These people had the guts to courageously display their shortcomings by explaining to the already well informed audience about their ‘inferiority complex’ by moving off the main agenda for the gathering and began campaigning. Apparently the Bishops in their Pastoral Letter released a few days ago pointed out the very same problems of beginning to campaign early instead of sticking onto developing the country.
Mkaka was confident enough to talk like he is a champion and yet no message was grasped all along. He at one point had to mention that he spoke as a politician yet the occasion didn’t necessarily need that type of speeches. People have for many times suggested that there should be a dividing line when the Executive is undertaking various duties. They should be able to differentiate between party functions and government sponsored functions. Tax payers money shouldn’t be utilised on campaign meetings and vice versa. If people are accusing the current government for rushing to open projects that were not their brain child it is because since coming into government nothing has been done by them other than going about visiting skeletal projects like the one the whole president went to see in Chikwawa whose completion is in 2 or 3 years from now. Was that not a sheer wastage of money once more? The programme he undertook in Phalombe was actually funded by donors? Was it not his colleague (Chilima) during campaigns in 2019 who went about telling Malawians that “Anthu ena asamabwere kudzakuuzani kuti ndakumangira nseu, sukulu etc ngati ndalama ndi za nthumba mwawo.” Today the same people are passing the same messages to ppor Malawians because they have no choice, really? Osamakhala ngati ntchentche kuti kutsogolo kwabwino kumbuyonso kwabwino.