The Chinese Government has given the country , a Solar Powered Irrigation and Milling Plant at Mikolongwe Veterinary Station in Chiradzulu district.
Speaking today during the handover ceremony, Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development , Kondwani Nankhumwa hailed the Government of China for the Plant.
“On behalf of the Government of Malawi allow me to express my warmest gratitude to Hebei Pingle Flour Manufacturing Company for supporting Malawi government’s efforts in its drive towards achieving a hunger-free Malawi by providing Malawi with the Solar-powered Irrigation and Milling Plant here,”
“We are all aware that the human population is growing in this country. It is obvious that the growing population requires corresponding increases in food production for the population to be able to survive and participate in development efforts championed by the Government of Malawi,”Nankhumwa said.
According to the Minister, the National Agriculture Policy advocates for complete transformation of the agriculture sector through production intensification among other strategies.
“The Solar-Powered Irrigation and Milling Plant being handed over today is an important input into Malawi’s agriculture transformation drive through mechanization,”
“This will promote production intensification and processing and help to achieve the goal of food and nutrition security for the growing population in this district and Malawi as a whole,” he said.
Nakhumwa added that the plant is multipurpose and it will alleviate the impacts of climate change that the country is going through.
“Among other purposes is that it will ensure availability of human food and livestock feed. This will go a long-way in bridging both the livestock feed and human food gaps especially for small scale livestock farmers, which has been a big challenge here and other parts of Malawi,”
“As a country we are experiencing the climate change challenge that has threatened feed and food availability. You will agree with me that climate change threatens rain-fed agriculture and Malawi’s ability to meet food and nutrition demands for the country’s population,” he said.
The Minister said the climate change challenge can be addressed by employing climate smart technologies for sustainable food, nutrition and income security of smallholder farmers.
“Therefore, use of solar energy is one such climate-smart technology we are, all witnessing here. For this donation, once again I wish to register Malawi government’s appreciation to the People’s Republic of China through Hebei Pingle Company for championing this initiative, that clearly demonstrates that it is possible to achieve multiple harvests and bumper yields in a year,”
“I am convinced that proper and full use of this Plant will enable Malawi break the vicious food insecurity cycle,” he said.
Nankhumwa urged farmers around this area to frequent this place to get acquainted with good agriculture practices, which are prerequisites for improved crop, livestock and fisheries production.
“Besides this Plant enabling us to increase feed and food availability, this will also create employment around this area,” he said.
The Minister asked Chiefs around the area to take care of the Plant.
“I would therefore like to request the local leadership here to support government staff here at Mikolongwe to safeguard this rewarding development initiative. The Milling facility at this unit will serve households around here to process their maize into flour especially now when the country is facing power generation inadequacies, with a solar milling plant you can be rest assured of milling at any time,” Nankhumwa said.
