Some facts to look at;

I still stand by my opinion which was also echoed by
Dr. Chilumpha. Firstly let's look at some facts on
irrigation in Malawi:

1. It's true that Government Constructed Irrigation
schemes in some parts of the country which are either
being under utilised or they have completely dried out
and hence stopped working.

My vision is that Government must invest in
sustainable  infrustructure if Irrigation is to have a
meaningful effect on curbing hunger in Malawi. Almost
all the schemes Mike is talking about in his posting
were GOVERNMENT PROPERTY (managed and run by MYP
organisation in a non democratic governement where
descision making was TOP to BOTTOM approach!). And all
were LARGE SCALE schemes not belonging to Small Scale
farmers whose house-holds are the most vulnerable when
hunger strikes!

In the Multi Party political dispensation where
democratic values are more important in decision
making, it was forced upon these schemes to be run by
small-holder farmers, (remember what's happening at
DOMASI and Likangala Irrigation schemes-where
smallholders are being encouraged to manage and run
the scheme), and such moves require HUGE sums of money
to transfer the schems to small scale farmers.

Now the biggest problem is that the design of these
schemes (the canal network, etc) were made with Large
Scale Farmer orrientation and to conform them now to
fit the flexibility of small scale farmer's network
needs, becomes a costly affair. As poor as our
Governement is, these indeed became `White Elephants'.
Similar mistakes were made at Bwanje Irrigation Scheme
- and now there are many problem there.

The bottom line is that You can't design a scheme
meant for Large Scale Farmers and use it in a Small
Scale farmer setting! It will simply fail!!

Technologically, If all local hydrological zones
(catchments) were understood and that networks of
artificial `rivers' (man made conduits and canals)
were constructed to criss-cross�@our small-holder
gardens where both ground and surface waters
(rivers,lakes and dams) are not readily exploitable
for irrigation use, we can achieve more in making
hunger History in Malawi! This is just one example!

2. That aside; I also still maintain that THE WILL
(whether it's by government or our Politicians) is
simply not there although everyone knows what
Irrigation can do to root out hunger.

In the past 40 years, How many Irrigation Feaseability
Studies have we conducted? And how many of them have
actually materialised into constructed irrigation
infrustructure? Actually even the much talked projects
under Smallholder Flood Plains Development Programme
by IFAD, what meaningful infrustructure has been
constructed on the ground that would make a
difference? Lack of finance on the side of the farmers
is not a Problem of their making, It's because the
WILL to have Irrigation schemes is not TRANSLATED into
action.

Our politicians pay more lip service than acting on
pertinent issuses when they are in Parliament. They
would rather debate MP's salary increment motion than
to increse funding in the Irrigation Sector! They
would rather buy grain from other countries (including
GMOs) than subsidise the local production cost of
which irrigation is one! and many examples can be said
where the will has not been put into action!

Actually in one of the Malawi Government-ADB meetings
that I attended to look at why The Food Crops
Irrigation project was not taking off, It was
discovered that Malawi Government was not using the
Money from ADB (in other words the government was not
claiming the money)  for more than 3 year after ADB
approved the project   because  no action had been
made on the ground to enable the project take off and
hence they could not use the funds. I vividly remember
Hon. Aleke Banda and the late Dr. Clement Mzembe (the
then Controller of Irrigation) travelling to Abidjan,
to lobby the ADB to extend the project period because
ADB was about to cancel the project! The problem is
not money but Willingness by all of us (the sector
stakeholders) to achieve a formidable battle against
hunger!

3. As noted in both postings by Mike and Rodney, the
failure of the Pumps that were given to Governemnt by
Japanese and Chinese governments to assist in
irrigation can be attributed to poor selection of
technology on the side of the Irrigation
professionals. I can't remember how the pumps were
given to Malawi BUT what I remember was that I was
contracted by Department of Irrigation in 1997 to
carry out some technical study tests on the pumps
before they were distributed to farmers. these pumps
came without any data for use. In other words they
were water pumps and NOT Irrigation Pumps! It should
be remembered that not all Water Pumps are Irrigation
pumps!!!

I tested the pumps at Bunda Farm near the Dam and my
mandate was to come up with a basic design sheet and
the accompanying equipement for each type of the pump
so that we can try and use them for small to medium
Irrigation installations. I was also required to make
recommendations on how much available Suction Head
would be required at each installation site. All tests
were done. A report was written highlighting
recommendations  to both late Dr. Mzembe and late Dr.
Mapopa Chipeta (the then Minister of Agriculture) who
had much interest in this activity) and awaiting their
action. One main attribute discovered was that the
pumps were assembled from very cheap material.
Especially the Chinese pumps were virtually useless.
Althogh they could pump about 3 to 5m3/hr they could
not sustain an entire crop growing period because of
possible frequent breakdowns!

To look at the world, start with your community' Prof. Akinobo
Sumiyoshi, 2004, University of Miyazaki President