At least 105 farmers in Senior Chief Mbenje’s area in Nsanje have benefited from an Irrigation Scheme implemented by the Churches in Action and Relief Development-CARD.
One of the members of Tiyanjane Scheme MacFarlane Beni says their lives have tremendously transformed since the establishment of the scheme in 2012.
He gave a testimony of farmers having houses thatched with iron sheets with installed solar panels.
“I ask CARD to consider extending the 7.8 hectares to give chance to other willing to join,” said Beni.
CARD Project Officer Charles Msowoya says the two solar panels used at the scheme are worth 130 Million Kwacha; adding any expansion plan may need government or any other non-state actor to intervene.
Nsanje District Commissioner Dr Medson Matchaya says experience has shown that crops grow well through irrigation during summer unlike the rainy season when the district is mostly affected by floods.
The DC observes that rrigation farming has proved to be the best in Nsanje hence the need to revamp the non-operational schemes.