Africa-Press – Malawi. Minister of Agriculture Lobin Lowe has expressed hope to beat the December 2022 deadline in setting up mega farms as directed by President Lazarus Chakwera.
This comes about three months after Chakwera issued the December ultimatum where he said the country should not go into 2023 without one mega farm and that his crop inspection for next season should include at the farm.
In line with the ultimatum, the Ministry of Agriculture recently called on private sector operators willing to invest in the project to express their intent.
Speaking on the sidelines of the launch of a Partial Credit Guarantee Scheme on Friday in Blantyre, Lowe said the private sector has responded positively as the government has created an atmosphere towards the commercialisation of the agriculture sector.
He added that while the mega farms that will see the partnership with the private sector are on course, some farmers have already aggregated land in Chikwawa, which will be turned into a mega farm and it will be the first project.
“A group of farmers have consolidated 1,000 hectares of land and they have engaged Press Cane. They will be shareholders according to the size of their land and they will have a factory right at the farm. For the first time, that is the first mega farm, but by December, we will have more,” he said.
Agriculturalis.t Leonard Chimwaza said December is too early to have a complete and standard mega farm. He said setting up and running a mega farm requires massive resources and intense effort, hence, requiring a realistic timeframe.
“By December we can only have things in place that the requirements for a mega farm have been set up and we are good to roll but not having a fully working mega farm,” he said.
Setting up mega farms is one of the campaign promises by the Tonse Alliance administration. Justin Mkweu is a fast growing reporter who currently works with Times Group on the business desk. He is however flexible as he also writes about current affairs and national issues.
For More News And Analysis About Malawi Follow Africa-Press
