Ministry of water and sanitation spokesperson, James Kumwenda, told Zodiak Online on Wednesday that through various partners such as the World Bank, the water structures will be constructed in Neno, Blantyre, Zomba, Machinga, Balaka and Mangochi among other districts.

"The Ministry is targeting to construct 10 small to medium sized multi-purpose dams and 20 water harvesting structures for flood control, irrigation, water supply, and fisheries among others. Currently, the Ministry is in the process of undertaking  a feasibility study, detailed design for  the dams. Construction is expected to commence from June 2023," he said in a written response.

Kumwenda has however singled out lack of ownership, land acquisition issues, vandalism, catchment degradation and lack of private sector support and participation as the main challenges derailing efforts to utilise the country’s potential of harvesting 19 billion cubic metres of rain water annually for multi-purpose use.

He said for instance, increased vandalism of water infrastructure and land degradation continue affecting most of the dams constructed across the country to effectively harvest water to support various productive uses.

Rainwater Harvesting Association of Malawi (RHAM) chairperson, Mcpherson Nthala, said the country is only harvesting one percent of its potential annually due to low adoption of harvesting and storage facilities.

"Potentially as a country we can collect up to 19 billion cubic metres of rain water annually. But we are doing maybe less than one percent of it," Nthala said.

Experts believe Malawi has reliable water bodies such as Lake Malawi and Shire river which can turn it into one of the Africa's food basket if there were utilised through water harvesting for irrigation.