By Alfred Chauwa
Malawi President Dr Lazarus McCarthy says his vision is to see Malawi becoming a self reliant country.
President Chakwera is in the southern region where he is conducting a number of activities one of them being the inauguration of the Katunga- Maseya (KAMA) 1,174 Hectare Mega farm in Chikwawa district.
The 5.7 billion Malawi kwacha worthy mega farm formed by 2,193 farmers from Traditional Authorities Katunga and Maseya has been made possible by 70% of money (5.3 billion) from Chakwera’s brain-child, AGCOM with the remaining 30% from Alliance and in-kind contribution from farmers themselves.
The president said as a country Malawi should not be looking down on itself. He called on Malawians to embrace mindset change.
“As a young nation, not only must we embrace this mindset of self-determination and self-reliance, but we must cultivate our friendships with those who are ready to support us achieve our dreams,” he said.
The Malawi leader commmended World Bank, which availed the 95 million
dollars in funding for AGCOM 1, some of which have been used to create this mega farm.
“As we speak, the World Bank has already made available more than triple this amount to go towards AGCOM 2. So I want to thank the World Bank, represented here by Hugh Ridell, the Country Manager, for being a trusted partner for Malawi in our quest to achieve self-reliance and self-determination,” he said.
The President has also hailed Press-Cane, the local private sector company that is working with the KAMA Cooperative
to develop the mega farm and serving as its off-taker.
“What you have done here is to make history as a private sector player by answering the Malawi 2063 Vision pillar of agroindustrialization with action. And I call on other private sector players to be inspired by your example. It is not enough for private sector players to merely pay lip service to the Malawi 2063 Vision of an inclusively wealthy selfreliant industrialized upper middle-income economy, ” he said.
The project is expected to produce sugarcane which will be sold to Presscane limited for ethanol production with some to be exported to Mozambique.
Presscane limited CEO Dr Paul Guta said KAMA Mega farm launch speaks volumes of government’s commitment to see Malawi becoming an exporting country and earn the most needed forex for the country’s economic growth.
He then said the business partnership between KAMA and Presscane will not only benefit farmers but also improve government’s economy and job creation agenda.
Dr Guta has since hailed the good working relationship between local leaders around KAMA and excellent advisory role by agriculture ministry through AGCOM for making the KAMA mega farm a reality.
