By Yamikani Yapuwa
Blantyre, June 7, Mana: Minister of Irrigation and Water Development, Charles Mchacha on Sunday hailed President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika for his desire to develop Irrigation farming in the country.
In an interview reacting to State President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika’s recorded State-of- the-Nation Address for 2020-2021 Budget, Mchacha said projects which have already been implemented in the 2019-20 financial year have registered huge impact in several districts.
He, therefore, expressed optimism that projects earmarked for the coming financial year will yield even better results.
“I can confidently say that the projects have transformed lives of many Malawians regardless of political affiliation,” said Mchacha.
He said apart from developing the irrigation sector, President Mutharika’s administration has put in place various interventions to boost the water sector.
“In the next financial year, the government of Professor Mutharika is expected to rehabilitate close to 500 boreholes in all drought-affected areas due to the Cyclone Idai” he said.
The minister further said besides rehabilitating the boreholes, the 2020/21 financial year would also see construction of a new water supply project from Shire River under Blantyre Water Board.
In a recorded address as a preventive measure of COVID-19, President Mutharika said his government intends to revamp irrigation farming through various measures including the Shire Valley Transformation Program currently under way in Chikwawa.
Members of Parliament are expected to start commenting on Mutharika’s State of Nation Address from Monday up to Friday this week.
In March this year, Mutharika said irrigation programs like the Shire Valley Transformation Program (SVTP) demonstrates government’s commitment to creating new wealth and improving the quality of lives of Malawians.
“We are transforming this country by transforming our agriculture. For a long time, agriculture has been our way of life for growing food. Now we want agriculture to be our way of life for creating employment and new wealth for Malawi.
“We want rural areas to be centres of development in Malawi. We want development to start from rural communities to towns and cities. We want to take development to the people instead of taking the people to development.
“In this program, we will see factories that process our produce into finished products, ready for export.
This is transformation. Industrialization is coming to Nsanje and Chikwawa,” said Mutharika when he launched the SVTP.
