Malawi needs development 4-LAND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

Have you ever tried to enjoy a ride through Malawi on Google Earth? May be yes or No, but the fact remains that our Malawi is a very beautiful land with various natural resources. One striking thing though, pertaining to agriculture is how our farm boundaries are disorganised. You do not need to look very carefully, it is there for everybody to see. Our pieces of land or farms are irregular, undulating and in general disorganised.
On the Google Earth journey, please compare the organisation of farms in Zambia or Zimbabwe. These fields have distinct regular shapes, be it square, circular, triangular, etc. This is a common sight in many developed agricultural economies.
But why should i get concerned with the shapes of fields or farms. It should be common knowledge that irregular and undulating fields are difficult to mechanise or irrigate. If we are to develop our agriculture one or two steps ahead we should be thinking of helping the hoe that has stood the test of time. We should start pondering on how to mechanise our agriculture. Modern technologies in agriculture and mechanised farming are definately catalysts to agricultural development. We should be thinking of making agriculture an engine for exporting. This will be a dream unless we mechanise. If we are to increase our production both for food security and exporting, we need to be competitive. We cannot be as competitive as our neighbours if our fields/land remain unfriendly to mechanisation.
So what?
I think there a right department in the Ministry of Agriculture that can handle this problem. The Land Resources Conservation Department can ably handle what I would call a Land Development Programme. This programme should aim at land levelling, land demarcation/regularising boundaries, soil conservation, land drainage, and soil conditioning.
As with all land related issues, this may be painful but who said development comes easy.
The direction of our agriculture with the increase in population require continuous cropping, irrigation, and mechanisation. This necessitates land levelling and redemarcations to have regular fields. The direction of agriculture now is site specific management and information systems can be employed such as GIS/remote sensing reducing fuel, energy and production costs. This will make the Malawian farmer very competitive and able to produce more even for export.
This Land Development Programme can be well suited for many parts of the Central Region, parts of both Southern and Northern Malawi. The programme should be handled together with the Irrigation Department so that water can be supplied from Lake Malawi and be used for irrigation in these "new fields". May be a big dream like the Green Belt. Malawi would produce and produce for itself and the world and also look good on Google Earth.