By Emmanuel Chilemba:
Climate change has turned farming in Chikwawa and Nsanje into a yearly gamble as floods and dry spells continue to destroy harvests and push households towards hunger.
Located in the lowlying Shire Valley, the two districts are among areas frequently affected by climate shocks, leaving farmers struggling to maintain reliable food production.
The situation is reflected in crop production estimates for the Shire Valley Agriculture Development Division (ADD), which have fluctuated over the years and failed to keep pace with the combined growing population of more than 800,000 people in the two districts.
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During the previous farming season, staple grain production in the Shire Valley was projected at 117,391 metric tons (MT).
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This was lower than estimates from other ADDs, including Kasungu at 1,055,240MT and Lilongwe at 707,994MT, according to data gathered and analysed by The Daily Times from the Ministry of Agriculture.
Yet the two districts have a combined land area of 6,823 square kilometres and are surrounded by rivers that flow throughout the year, including the Shire, Ruo, Mwanza, Likhubula, Mwamphazi, Thangazi and Nyamadzere.
“What farmers have lacked is a way to get that water to their fields. Most farms are far from rivers and access to affordable farm inputs has also been limited,” Nathan Banda, a farmer from Traditional Authority Kasisi in Chikwawa, says.
Hope is now growing among farmers as works on the temporary intake for the flagship irrigation project, the Shire Valley Transformation Programme (SVTP), are expected to be completed in October this year.
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The development is expected to benefit farming households around the canal, including members of the Kambadwe and Mwanaalirenji cooperatives.
The SVTP, which includes a 118-kilometre canal, is expected to irrigate 43,370 hectares of land by pumping water from the Shire River at Kapichira Dam and conveying it through gravity-fed canals to farming areas in the two districts.
Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development Senior Irrigation Engineer Paul Mchikoma said the conveyance system is currently 80 percent complete and preparations are on track to meet the deadline.
“What remains is the installation of the gates.
When you look at the rest of the canal from the intake, we are on track.
The canal has already been lined in most sections,” Mchikoma says.
The completion of this phase is expected to enable farmers to grow a range of crops, including maize, cotton, soya beans and paprika.
Kambadwe Cooperative member Namasito Kamtsokota described the irrigation project as a game changer that will shift farmers from rain-fed subsistence farming to commercial agriculture.
“What I harvest from my land parcel is not enough to feed my family of seven throughout the year. We frequently face dry spells or floods in this area, so rain-fed agriculture is not reliable.
“After joining the cooperative, consolidating our land parcels and receiving training in commercial farming and cooperatives, I am confident that I will benefit once the cooperative starts irrigation farming,” Kamtsokota says.
Mwanaalirenji Cooperative Board Secretary Theresa Mwalija said plans were underway to employ a full-time farm manager in preparation for the project.
“The cooperative plans to cultivate 774 hectares. Among other things, we are planning to start cultivating cash crops such as cotton, soya beans, maize and paprika, whose markets are readily available,” Mwalija said.
African Development Bank (AfDB) Executive Director responsible for Malawi, Botswana, Mauritius and Zambia Shebo Nalishebo said the SVTP has the potential to transform Malawi’s agricultural sector and improve food security.
Speaking during a recent visit to the project site in Chikwawa, Nalishebo reaffirmed the bank’s commitment to supporting Malawi’s efforts to modernize agriculture and improve livelihoods through irrigation development.
The project, financed by the World Bank and AfDB, comes as agriculture policy and research experts continue to urge the government to invest in irrigation systems to ensure year-round crop production.
Crop production has struggled to keep pace with Malawi’s growing population of more than 20 million people.
Data gathered and analysed shows that national crop estimates have fluctuated, with maize production in some years falling below the annual requirement of 3.6 million MT.
During the previous farming season, maize production was estimated at 2.9 million MT, up from 2.7 million MT during the corresponding period.
