THE SHIRE VALLEY TRANSFORMATION PROGRAMME AND UNDERUTILISED IRRIGATION SCHEMES: MORE IMPACT OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE E3 ANCHOR FARMS MODEL
By George Z Goliati Goliati
The Government of Malawi (GoM) through the Ministry of Agriculture, with support from the World Bank, the African Development Bank and the Global Environment Facility (GEF), is implementing the Shire Valley Transformation Programme (SVTP). The SVTP is a 14-year program (2018-2031) which will be implemented in three sequential but partially overlapping phases. The SVTP will irrigate 43,370 hectares of land by abstracting water from the Shire River at Kapichira and conveying it by gravity to the irrigable area in Chikwawa and Nsanje districts through canals. This will ensure a more consistent supply of water to farm lands throughout the year.
Two of the five SVTP guiding principles include allowing farmers who want to participate to organise themselves and consolidate their land, and allow for private investments in partnership with land owners and users. The e3 anchor farms model will involve Umodzi Farms, as an aggregator, engaging local farmer organisations on its anchor farms to foster and support sustainable production and decentralised aggregation for identified quality-oriented markets. That's the SVTP explicitly provides the opportunity for the partnership unlike similar projects like the Agricultural Commercialisation project (AGCOM). The SVTP recognises that smallholder rural farmers capacity needs more than trainings.
Secondly, the main objective of the SVTP is to increase agricultural productivity and commercialisation for targeted households in the Shire Valley; and to improve the sustainable management and utilization of natural resources. The objective of the first phase of the programme (2018 to 2023) is to provide access to reliable irrigation and drainage services, secure land tenure for smallholder farmers and strengthen management of wetlands and protected areas in the Shire valley. The e3 anchor farms model focuses on both quality and sustainability. In other words, it focuses on commercialisation and conservation of nature, both on-farm and off-farm, including forests and water resources or bodies around the community. This indicates another strong similarity.
One of its three specific objectives is to establish smallholder owned commercial farm enterprises transitioning into commercial agriculture from subsistence farming and integrating them into commercial value chains. Whereas, the main objective of AfriCan Explorations in developing the e3 anchor farms model is "to support the integration of smallholder farmers into commercial value chains and sustainable agri-food systems", which is through digitalization and youth engagement in rural community agriculture.
The coincidence that is there between the e3 anchor farms model and the SVTP does not only indicate a great opportunity for the model, but it also indicates advanced thinking that is embedded within AfriCan Explorations. It provides evidence that the e3 anchor farms concept is not just a dream, it is a reality and the future.
The knowledge about the SVTP gave us a compulsion to know more about on-going irrigation activities in the districts since it is known that there is a number of existing irrigation schemes. It was a bit puzzling to why the government is constructing this mega scheme. Could it mean there is a shortage of schemes?
Mr Nyang'wa, an irrigation officer from Chikwawa district and SVTP information office was interviewed on 3 August 2020. He indicated that there are several schemes in the two districts, however, most of them are underutilised. Despite being a sad news, it was realised that it is not only collective marketing structures being underutilised, but collective production structures too that are expected to boost production and productivity!
On the main reason why the schemes are underutilised, Mr Nyang'wa indicated that the farmers put the blame on lack of inputs. Then it became interesting to know if the SVTP and our partnerships would work, and if some have ever tried. He referred to the SVTP partnerships. He explained that it was the reason why the programme is considering partnerships between the farmer groups and the private enterprises. That is, it is realised that rural farmers on their own are less likely to make use of the mega scheme. He further indicated that there has been cases where private companies or individuals have combined forces with farmers to utilise the schemes. However, their office noticed that some members turn down these offers and the practice has not been common. The response did not give us discouragement, instead, it brought excitement since the reasons given by the farmers in turning down the offers are problems that AfriCan Explorations' is most interested in to solve. This will probably give the e3 anchor farms model an advantage if successfully solved.
According to the Department of Irrigation (2015), the estimated irrigation potential area is 450,000 ha,16.7% of the arable cultivable area of 2.7 million ha. Only 63,000 ha is developed for irrigation, representing 14%, of which about 14,697 ha (3%) is under smallholder and the rest under estates. This means that the actual smallholder irrigation activities are even much more lower than the area developed. In this view, our (AfriCan Explorations') study to establish the extent of utilisation of donated collective marketing structures and the relationship with the Farmer Organisations standard capacity will also include irrigation schemes.
