…With half of national irrigation schemes in dire state
Emmanuel Chitsika
With Climate Change being a reality on the doorstep, efforts seem to have been made by the government of Zimbabwe towards adoption of mitigatory measures to fight the scourge of the new-norm (climate change) as well as its devastating effects while at the same time trying to ensure food security on a national scale.
With the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 2 aiming to ‘End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture’, great strides have or are being made to ensure Zimbabwe gears towards realization of that dream and ensure food security.
Use of irrigation schemes has been adopted as one of the measures to ensure food security and do away with the negative effects of Climate Change.
However there seem to be a disturbing trend on whether the use of irrigation schemes would be useful to achieve the aim as most schemes are reportedly in dire state of dilapidation.
Speaking during a tour of Fuve-Panganai irrigation scheme in Masvingo’s Zaka district on September 17, 2022, the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Dr Anxious Masuka expressed concern over the state of the irrigation schemes saying only half were operational while the rest are in need of rehabilitation, a situation that serves no good towards realizing desired goals.
“You see, right now as we stand here, this irrigation scheme had totally collapsed. Instead of government and other development partners’ funds being used towards the expansion of these irrigation schemes to other parts of the country, we are here again at Fuve-Panganai for the purpose of rehabilitating the very scheme we would have used money in establishing.
“From now onwards, we need to adopt the business model aligned to Vision 2030 under the ‘V30 accelerator’ is one that will make sure a success story is written here and we are not going to come back here for the sake of rehabilitating the scheme. From now onwards, there is no single scheme that will need to be rehabilitated in four to five years. All those irrigation schemes with a total of 26 450 hectares, half are lying idle and not operating nationwide.
“We must move on from that cycle of just moving around rehabilitating schemes because by the time we will be done rehabilitating them, some we would have worked on could be in need of repairs. So we need a new approach to get rid of this challenge and the attainment of vision 2030 begins with us here as all the other stakeholders are present here to contribute towards such a goal,” said Masuka.
His sentiments were echoed by his deputy Davis Marapira who also weighed in telling farmers to ensure correct application of fertilizers to deal with deficiency diseases the maize crop being toured were exhibiting.
“The maroonish colour showing on the leafs of these plants show that there was incorrect application of fertilizers as the plants are showing deficiency in the basal fertilizer that was applied and it could also mean that fertilizer analysis was not properly done.
“Also on fertilizer application, it seems you are way behind because ideally, we need four split application due to leaching as the way you irrigate your crops promotes leaching (downward loss of nutrients). Also I advise you to swiftly come up with post-emergence grass combating measures so that it weeds remain under effective control. As they have mentioned, the harvest of 7-8 tonnes mentioned won’t be realized but the worst case scenario would be four tonnes/hectare,” said Marapira.
Chief Nhema born Rangarirai Bwawanda (whose area the scheme falls under) bemoaned the practice of stream bank cultivation which he claims is already underway on the catchment of the water supplier Siya dam and that would negatively impact on success of irrigation schemes where Fuve-Panganai won’t be spared either.
“Under my area of jurisdiction (Nhema Chieftaincy) when it comes to the point you raised minister that when doing business, government would suffer from incurring expenses as a result of deterioration in investments, there is an irrigation scheme already underway at Siya dam’s catchment area. Right now if you could one day visit my place on a Saturday, you would feel pity for those subjects I would be fining for that offense. Their argument being they are benefiting nothing as compared to people downstream Siya dam.
“They came up with a model of irrigation scheme but if you ask its leaders, you would realize they are going nowhere in terms of progress. Every year they are busy repairing the scheme, so my point is you need to capacitate them. We are happy here but the dam situation is critical and needs urgent intervention to fix other infrastructure and electricity supply which used to be there. Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) is virtually doing nothing to serve the situation despite raising fees every month. There is massive water leakages as some valves have ceased to function and thus water is lost day and night and after the five years you promise to revisit the area, you won’t realize any progress.
“The other challenge on the part of our farmers is laziness as they prefer renting out plots to farming themselves. When there are problems like pump breakdowns, those tenants will not contribute towards repairs. These farmers are not cooperating under such circumstances,” said chief Nhema.
The small scale holder farmers’ revitalization programme began in 2016 with the aim of reducing the vulnerability of concerned farmers to food and nutrition insecurity, but six years down the line government is still to witness the schemes operating at full capacity because of challenges ranging from one place to the other.
As Masvingo province is home to the country’s biggest water bodies in Tugwi-Mukosi, Lake Mutirikwi, Bangala, Siya, Manyuchi, Manjirenji, Muzhi and Mushandike dams among others, it remains to be seen if it will live up to its billing and assume responsibility of guaranteeing national food security.
With such a host of challenges bedeviling the sector, it remains to be seen whether the financial and resource contributions towards irrigation farming would play the expected role towards fighting climate change effects as well as restoring Zimbabwe’s status as food basket of the region.
Partners like Agriculture Finance Corporation (AFC), Agriculture Rural Development Association (ARDA), International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) and Smallholder Irrigation Revitalization Programme (SIRP) are among those working towards resuscitation of the irrigation sector.
