By Pacharo Munthali
With the continued perennial water shortage James Portipher, the treasurer of Machetule irrigation club together with members of the community under the area of Village Headman Chimkwinya TA Kunthembwe in Blantyre since 2016 has been thinking of ways of dealing with this persistent problem.
“Back in the days the club used to farm along Shire River Banks. Though we were closer to the waters of the Shire River, due to the conditions at hand, it meant we were prone to the annual floods and furry of crocodiles and hippos,” Portipher recalls, indicating that due to the continued flooding, we had to move to the up land. Over the years, Portipher has seen several clubs that were formed to do several farming activities. However, due to a lack of water and erratic rains, such efforts were in vain. The lack of rain meant we could not grow enough crops for subsistence and commercial purposes. Consequently, the communities’ livelihood could not improve as much as members would want.
But things started to change in 2021, says Portipher indicating that “an officer from Blantyre District Council during one of the visits, informed us of matching grants that the Malawi Watershed Services Improvement Project (MWASIP).”
As a group, they applied for a grant for irrigation farming. The total amount that the group got was MK21, 240, 000.00. The group has 36 members with 20 being female,16 male, and 21 youths.
“Back in the days the club used to farm along Shire River Banks. Though we were closer to the waters of the Shire River, due to the conditions at hand, it meant we were prone to the annual floods and furry of crocodiles and hippos,”
The group chose to grow bananas. The crop has been selected as it is seen as fast-growing which can help the community get rich quickly. While Banana will be the main crop, other crops like maize, tomato, onion, and vegetables will also be grown.
“Of the four hectares we have, half of it will be used to grow bananas while the other half will involve a variety of crops,” smiles Portipher.
Looking back, Village Headman Chimkwinya says before MWASIP, members of communities used to irrigate crops using a bucket.
“This had challenges as we would not manage to irrigate the whole field resulting in having crops dry up,” says Village Headman.
However, the sailing hasn’t been smooth.
According to Blantyre Principal Irrigation Officer, while a greater part of the work has been carried out, there are still some challenges that are being experienced because most of the equipment suppliers do not want to be paid through cheque. So there has been back and forth as the district is trying to find a supplier that can provide irrigation pipes and be paid through a cheque.
The other challenge is the rising cost of buying the products. Initially, the group planned to purchase 500 suckers but due to devaluation, only 300 will be bought. With the training already carried out, and the market survey done, the community challenges that the market is readily available.
So far works like borehole drilling and finalization and mounting of the tank have been finalized. So far the holes where the banana will be planted have already been dug.
To ensure sustainability, the group is also practicing Village Saving Loans (VSLs) also known as Banki Nkhonde through which the group can support each other.
Village Headman Chimkwinya believes that the future is bright.
He thanks MWASIP for the funding that through the irrigation scheme, will transform the village.