Irrigation Project Update

In partnership with Southern Irrigation we have been actively working on establishing an irrigation project on land beside the Chigumukire Child Care Centre in the Nsanje region of southern Malawi. In this region there is an urgent need for consistent precipitation to grow nutritious food. Rainy season typically starts in November and by the middle of December, the Nsanje region had yet to see any rain fall. This greatly reduces their growing season, making it extremely difficult to have productive crops ready by harvest time in March/April. Extreme poverty is impossible to overcome when your most basic need of food is continually lacking. For this reason, we are very excited to be working in partnership with Southern Irrigation to provide a means to mitigate this need of consistent rainfall through irrigation.

This project is located on 5.5 acres of property, gifted to us by the chiefs of the surrounding villages, around the edges of the child care centre. The chiefs recognize that this project will both be a huge asset to the education of children from their villages and that the products produced will increase the nutritional value of food available in the region. The lead farmer has been hired and has produced a business plan for the first year which includes growing crops of maize, tomato, onion, cabbage, bananas and beans. Traditionally, due to the lack of a sufficient growing period, this area’s main crop is millet which does not provide much quantity or nutrition. We all look forward with much excitement to producing the above mentioned variety of crops.

Wellington Levi Nkhoma, our lead farmer, is a 32 year old married Malawian with a Diploma in Agriculture Extension. He has 9 years of experience in various jobs in the agricultural field. Most of his experience is in forming and training farmers groups in rural communities. He has drafted up a detailed business plan in regards to the project and once they have started planting, he will be leading the small group of farmers to conduct the tasks associated with production.

In regards to the infrastructure of the project, the pump house has been completed, solar panels have been placed on top of the roof of one of the houses associated with the centre and fencing is currently being installed around the project. Before the fence was installed, the land was initially cleared of trees and debris through piece work by local villagers and then a tractor was hired to plough up the land. We heartily thank all of the supporters who have stepped forward to fund the fencing needs. Your support of this project is greatly appreciated and the fence should be completed soon, once the final supplies arrive. The pumphouse building will not only secure the solar powered pump but will also be utilized as a storage facility for tools and irrigation parts. A local contractor is installing the underground piping for the water distribution system which should be completed tomorrow.