MALAWI: Bishop Ryan Promotes Irrigation Farming against Famine
Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Mzuzu Rt. Rev. John Ryan, has urged farmers to fully get engaged in irrigation farming in the country saying that, this will help in eradicating hunger which is worsening in some parts of the country.
Bishop Ryan was speaking on Tuesday, 8th, May, 2018 after touring sites where CADECOM Mzuzu Diocese is implementing a project with funding from Caritas Australia.
Speaking to the media in Mzimba district Bishop Ryan said that, if people can be involved in irrigation farming method, then they can have food to sustain their households and enhance development in their communities.
“As a country we have the potential to develop through agriculture sector. Our country has vast arable land that can be used for irrigation farming. The people therefore need to utilize irrigation measures in order to produce more crops for their households,” the Bishop said.
The Bishop also appealed to the government to assist the potential farmers in irrigation farming, saying that farmers need water pumps, fertilizer and many other farm inputs to help them carry out their agricultural initiatives successfully.
In her remarks the Programmes’ Coordinator at CADECOM National Office, Diana Mataya said the A+ project uses the Strength Based Approach which has helped communities to take a leading role in development of their community.
“We have seen that people in our catchment area are now able to understand the approach of the project which promotes the use of available resources to uplift their living standards. For instance, most farmers are now involved in irrigation farming, as we all know this year the rainfall pattern was very bad due to that, farmers have harvested very little and this has affected food production, but since these farmers are involved in irrigation farming the problem will be minimized.”.
The Catholic Diocese of Mzuzu through CADECOM with funding from Caritas Australia under the supervision of Episcopal Conference of Malawi is implementing a five year A+ project in the areas of Traditional Authority Jalavikuba at Katope in Mzimba and Traditional Authority Chisovya at Lukali and Chiskemba in Rumphi Districts where the project targets 1,500 households and the project ends in December 2021.
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By Augustine Kambuzi, Correspondent
