NEWS:

1 Aug, 2016


Chaima giving instructions to one of the workers at NRC Campus demonstration farm
Irrigation Engineering is one of the programmes offered at Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) through Department of Engineering at Bunda Campus and Department of Agriculture at NRC Campus. Patricia Nkhoma interviewed Evance Dalitso Chaima to find out more about irrigation engineering

1. Tell me about yourself?
I was born Evance Dalitso Chaima, first born in a family of seven, five boys and and two girls. Currentry I am working at Luanar, NRC Campus as a Lecturer in Irrigation Technology.

2. How can you describe an Irrigation Engineer?
Well, an irrigation engineer is a person who designs and provides plans for irrigation development and management services to the communities or clients in the country and beyond in other words he/ she is a person who is mostly involved in providing solutions related to irrigation, food security and even water resources management.

3. What is involved in Irrigation Engineering?
There is a lot that an irrigation engineer does since irrigation involves a lot players but I will just dwell much on some important aspects such as Planning of irrigation development which involves conducting feasibility studies (site assessment in terms of water availability, soil surveys, topographic surveys and recommending appropriate irrigation method to be used). It also involves coming up with designs of the recommended systems such as crop water requirements, water distribution system designs including detailed drawings for your system, supervising construction of irrigation systems, recommending operation and maintenance plans for that particular system that you have designed for sustainability. You also have to come up with bills of quantities for costing of that particular system.

4. What motivated you to join this career?
I was motivated by a book which I read about irrigation when I was at St Patricks’ secondary school in Chiradzulu. The information I read was fascinating at that time, which was about a centre pivot irrigation system. I was amused with the information on how I can make that system work and I wanted to construct it one day myself and help people with food production. After I completed secondary school I applied for irrigation engineering at Bunda College then under Unima

5. What are the requirements for one to be an irrigation Engineer?
One needs to have six credits in MSCE with strong credits in English, mathematics, physical science, agriculture and geography so that they will be able to go through the program without much difficulty.

6. Is this career rewarding?
The career is very rewarding and the largest employer is Malawi government especially in the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development, all water boards, private companies such as Illovo, Tea estates, Malawi mangoes, Fisd and other construction companies and Non-Governmental Organisation (NGOs) such as Cadecom, Plan International, World Vision International, Total Land Care, Concern Universal, Catholic Relief Services, Card, Nasfam, Environment Africa, Save The Children among others but in NGOs job vacancies depend much on irrigation projects which they run from time to time. One could also pursue a career in academia as lecturer in Irrigation Engineering/ Water Resources Engineering. One fascinating fact is that, Malawi as a country has only managed to develop 102 000 hectares of land out of irrigation potential of about 641,000 ha. Out of this developed land, close to 46,000 ha is under smallholder and only growing maize, rice and vegetables. Close to 56,000 ha is under private commercial growing cash crops such as sugarcane, bananas, tea, coffee, and macadamia. We can clearly see that the career needs a lot of engineers to develop the country not only for food but much for export.

7. What are the challenges that you encounter in your profession?
As an irrigation engineer, I have been involved in various irrigation projects and there are a lot of challenges that not only I encounter but that the irrigation sector faces some of which are; political interference whereby someone would want to engage the services of an irrigation engineer even when proposals are not technically feasible, farmers over dependency altitude which affects sustainability of most irrigation projects, there is also a problem of land tenure which is chasing away would be investors in the sector, policy direction is not well consolidated as concentration is on gravity fed yet there are many options but also commercial production is less emphasized as compared to small holder farming production. The sector is also facing energy limitations; electricity not enough to be spared for irrigation as a result better performing technologies fail to be implemented and high cost of alternatives like fuel makes it unaffordable to the farmers. There is a lot that needs to be done so that we accomplish the full irrigation potential.

8. What is the highest qualification one can attain?
One can pursue the career until you have a PhD in the field but in academia one could even go up to professorship.

9. Any advice for those who would like to join the profession?
My advice to those interested in the career is to have a hard working spirit since the career is much of a practice in which you have to come up with solutions that would help the country achieve food security and earn forex through exports and sometimes it requires you to think out of the box. To those who are already in the profession I would edge them to continue helping the country in achieving food security but also to be dedicated and honest always. Let us all have an entrepreneurial spirit and not always job seeking “there is money in farming and irrigation”

10. What are the training institutions both in Malawi and outside?
The Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) offers quality training in Irrigation Engineering at Diploma level at its NRC Campus, Bsc and Msc level at its Bunda Campus. There are other institutions such as Foundation for Irrigation and Sustainable Development (Fisd) which also offer diploma programs in irrigation, and there are a lot of Universities outside the country but I just mention a few such as Sokoine university of Agriculture (Tanzania), Kwazulu Natal University (South Africa), Nelson Mandela Institute of Technology (Arusha Tanzania), Utah State University (USA), Colorado State University, All State Agricultural Universities in India, in China, Japan and the UK, Netherlands among others.