President of Round Table Malawi, Jason Pereira has said his organization was compelled to come up with long term solutions during his tenure to ensure that people’s live hoods are improved.

He made the remarks during the launch of K20 million kwacha Solar Irrigation Scheme in Geliyasi village, Sub Traditional Authority (ST/A) Masache in Chikwawa.

He added that the aim of the Scheme is to help people in the community to be self-dependent by not considering where they are located.

“We have witnessed the suffering of the people in the area year in and year out due to the floods and even sometimes the dry spell which affect the people badly in the district,” he said.

Commenting on the matter Village headman Masache said the scheme has brought hope to the villagers since they will have food throughout the year despite the floods that leaves people in dire poverty.

“The irrigation scheme will help people in the area to have food throughout the year since they will be carrying out irrigation farming and i would like to take this opportunity to advise my people to utilize the scheme inorder to maximize its full potential,” Masache explained.

According to Ilias Abdul Karim, Member of Parliament for the area said the scheme will help the people in the area to shift for themselves since irrigation farming will be done throughout the year without the fear of floods.

“This year we faced floods and this irrigation scheme is a gateway to food security, “said Karim.

Chikwawa is one of the districts which experiences hunger due to flooding and dry spell and with the setting of the irrigation scheme the district will be producing a lot of food crops throughout the year.