In fulfilment of one of his flagship campaign promises of mega farms, President Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera on Tuesday commissioned another mega farm in Chikwawa District, only few weeks after launching a similar initiative in NkhataBay.
The Katunga-Maseya (KAMA) Cooperative Mega Farm will predominantly focus on the production of sugarcane by 2193 farmers on a piece of arable land amounting to 1069 hectares.
The demography of the cooperative has 706 adult females, 1,140 adult males and 347 youths.
Speaking at the launch ceremony of the mega farm, President Chakwera implored on Malawians to develop a Big-Time attitude that will drive them to focus on big projects and programmes in transforming the country in line with the Malawi2063 agenda.
“The Big-Time attitude is what this KAMA Mega Farm represents. It represents our resolve to produce big time. And I want to commend the Ministry of Agriculture for embracing our vision to produce big time.”
The Malawi leader challenged the farming community to work extra harder so as to fully utilize the opportunities found in Agriculture, a sector that earns Malawi’s a tag of being an agro-based economy.
“In fact, today, I want to challenge all of us as a country to stop telling ourselves that we are an agro-based economy. If productivity among smallholder farmers is not even at 50% of its potential, then it means that we are not maximizing our resources. Our economy has the potential to have a strong agricultural base, but this potential will not become a true strength until we start to produce big time.”
In his remarks, Minister of Agriculture, Sam Kawale, thanked President Chakwera for initiating the mega farm project that is the surest way of turning the fortunes of the Agriculture sector.
KAMA Megafarm expects sales of over MK3 billion in the first two years of operation and average revenue per member is approximately MWK1,500,000.
The project is expected to increase supply of sugarcane to its off taker, PressCane Limited, by over 96,210 metric tonnes per annum. The company is expected to increase production of ethanol from 20-million litres to 27million litres per annum.
The mega farm is being resourced by Agricultural Commercialization (AGCOM) project with financing from the World Bank.