The Minister of Water Development and Irrigation, Brown Mpinganjira Wednesday launched the African Development Bank funded Small Irrigation and Value Addition Project (SIVAP) in Machinga where Zumulu Irrigation Scheme alongside other schemes in four other districts will be rehabilitated to improve crop production and farm income among beneficiaries.

Speaking at Chibwana village, Traditional Authority Mlomba, Mpinganjira said government aims at rehabilitating irrigation schemes, open new irrigation site where there are potential for irrigation farming as a way of reducing poverty in line with the Millennium Development Goals on food security.

The minister said the only way to get out of poverty is to intensify irrigation farming which should enable smallholder farmers to harvest twice or more per year.

He however, asked communities around the irrigation site to avoid vandalizing and stealing irrigation equipment as this is counterproductive to efforts to deal with food insecurity.

Apart from Machinga, SIVAP will also be implemented in Karonga, Nkhotakota, Salima and Chikhwawa where 3,345 hectares will be under irrigation, thus targeting 11, 368 farm families out of which 5,600 will be female headed families.

According to Deputy Principal Secretary in the Water Development and Irrigation Ministry, Erica Maganga, SIVAP's goal is to contribute to poverty reduction and sustainable food security for beneficiaries by increasing crop production and diversification including developing high value chains.

African Development Bank representative, Andrew Mwaba said the bank is encouraged by women participation in most of the bank's funded projects.

He therefore pledged continued assistance to sustainable projects in water and irrigation sectors.

Currently, African Development Bank is financing projects under the National Water Development Programme in Machinga, Lilongwe, Zomba and Mulanje where rehabilitation of gravity water fed intakes and entire gravity fed water schemes, borehole rehabilitation and drilling of new boreholes are taking place.

Sustainable Land and Water Management, Crop Diversification and Value Chain Development and Institutional Strengthening and Capacity Building are components in the newly launched SIVAP and will be implemented by the Ministry of Water Development and Irrigation, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and Project Coordinating Team respectively.

SIVAP will be implemented at the cost of USD44.65 million for five years in the Lake Malawi districts of Karonga, Nkhotakota, Salima and Shire River districts of Machinga and Chikhwawa.