By Mcloyd Chilangiza:
Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development Minister Roza Mbilizi has said the rehabilitation and full utilisation of existing irrigation schemes, rather than the construction of new ones, can help stabilise the country’s economy.
Mbilizi made the remarks in Mzuzu on Tuesday during a financial review of the Irrigation Department.
The meeting also identified challenges that are affecting irrigation development in the country.
She said the shift in focus was intended to prevent waste of public resources after observing that several irrigation schemes across the country were dilapidated despite huge government investment.
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irrigation farming
“We are taking that route because we, as government, have spent a lot of money on constructing irrigation schemes. Most of them have been dilapidated because of lack of maintenance and some are underutilised because farmers cannot afford electricity. As such, we want to introduce solar-powered systems,” she said.
Commenting on the issue, Machinga District Chief Irrigation Officer Chisuse Imani described the review meeting as important in evaluating the department’s financial and operational performance.
“Let me take this opportunity to urge farmers to embrace irrigation farming,” Imani said.
The Malawi 2026-27 budget allocated K971.3 billion to the agriculture sector, out of which K40 billion is for national irrigation development.
