Maravi

(HERALD) ‘Mechanisation to focus on irrigation’

‘Mechanisation to focus on irrigation’
Herald Reporter

THE next phase of the agriculture mechanisation programme would focus on irrigation development, the Minister of Agricultural Engineeri-ng, Mechanisation and Irrigation Cde Joseph Made has said. He said the Government was engaged in talks with other countries to find the best way in which water bodies can be used to augment rain-fed agriculture.

He said there was need to strike a balance in the empowerment process to make sure farmers get adequate inputs and machinery for the country to retain its breadbasket status.

Cde Made said his ministry was consulting experts from China, India, Iran and Egypt to find suitable irrigation systems considering the affordability and energy requirements.

"We are working on improving yield per unit area and we also want to make sure that both the winter and summer crops follow the planting dates.

"We have also realised that rain water would never come in the right amounts at the right time so there is need for us to intervene with irrigation development.

"Our country usually suffers from mid-season droughts that usually occur in January and February so we need to plant our maize early and get our maize to tussle before that time using irrigation water," he said.

The Minister said irrigation also enables farmers to plant crops all- year round to raise the country’s food production.

Cde Made said the next stage must therefore be focused on the full development of irrigation water, choosing technology that is appropriate and sustainable and capping it all by skills development like training irrigation engineers, operators and the farmers on the overall repairs and maintenance of irrigation equipment.

He said the Government was going to further increase irrigation piping as most farmers have indicated that they needed irrigation material such as sprinklers and overhead irrigation equipment which was not provided for in the other phases.

Cde Made urged farmers to make their request to their district irrigation engineers or provincial irrigation engineers.

Labels: JOSEPH MADE, MECHANISATION, TRACTORISATION

posted by MrK @ 12:26 AM