By Wezzie Gausi:
The Ministry of Agriculture has said it expects to get 35,000 metric tonnes (mt) of maize from the mega farms initiative this year.
In this growing season, the government contracted 200 farmers to participate in the mega farms initiative countrywide.
Speaking on Tuesday after touring Harry Kanjudzi mega farms in Msundwe, Lilongwe, responsible minister Sam Kawale said before embarking on the initiative, government already had market off-takers for the farm produce.
He said all the produce under the mega farms will be sold to National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA), Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc), Pyxus Agriculture and Paramount Holdings.
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“NFRA and Admarc were contracted to buy maize, Pyxus Agriculture is supposed to buy groundnuts while Paramount Holding will be buying soy beans. And there will be Nasfam [National Smallholder Farmers Association of Malawi] and other markets that will be coming to help in buying the produce.
“It is the government’s wish to move more farmers from the AIP [Affordable Inputs Programme] to commercial farming. We have funding with Agcom [Agriculture Commercialisation Project] that has about K600 billion and Neef [National Economic Empowerment Fund] has about K30 billion to help in the initiative,” Kawale said.
Co-owner of the farm, Lefnas Chigamula, said, through the initiative, they have been getting support from the Mega Farms Support Unit.
He said they have cultivated maize on 200 hectares of land this year.
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“Government provided fertiliser, seeds and all other necessities that we needed at this farm. And we are pleased to learn that there are combine harvesters that will be provided for us to be using during harvesting. This is a very good move.
“This year, we plan to extend our farming to 400 hectares. With the weather issues, we will be doing irrigation farming mostly, as rain-fed agriculture is proving to be difficult,” Chigamula said.
Recently, President Lazarus Chakwera discussed with Afrexim Bank officials the issue of mega farms’ funding, saying the initiative would boost the food security and economy of the country.
Through the partnership with Afrexim bank, government is set to develop 50,000 hectares of arable land and facilitate crop production in rice, soya beans, maize and cotton.
