Malawi President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika says the launch of Shire Valley Transformation Programme indicates that Greenbelt Initiative is bearing fruits in the country.
President Mutharika made the remarks on Wednesday during the launch of Shire Valley Transformation Programme (SVTP) Phase I at Chikwawa Community Ground in Chikwawa district.
The Malawian leader, Professor Mutharika said SVTP will send a strong message to those who doubted the Greenbelt Initiative dream.
“This programme demonstrates that Malawi is steadily moving away from dependence on rain-fed agriculture to irrigated agriculture.
“We have said before that we will bring agriculture revolution in Malawi through the Green Belt Initiative. The Shire Valley Transformation Irrigation Project shows the doubters that our Green Belt dream is working,” said Professor Mutharika
Mutharika further said the newly launched program will help to boost Agriculture sector which is the backbone of thr country’s economy. He added that SVTP will be one of the biggest irrigation schemes in southern Africa
“SVTP is a game changer. In the first phase, we will develop over 43,000 hectares of land. For this phase we are investing 175 Billion Kwacha. This money is already available
“When we complete Phase 2 and Phase 3, we will have put more than 100,000 hectares under irrigation in Chikwawa and Nsanje. Once completed this will be probably the biggest agriculture irrigation scheme in Southern Africa,“said Mutharika
According to Mutharika, the Program will also help farmers from Chikwawa and Nsanje to move from move from subsistence farming to commercial farming.
