By Courage Dutiro
Coupled with environmental degradation and low rainfall up the Nyanyadzi River last season, once the backbone of agricultural production in the area, the Nyanyadzi Irrigation Scheme is struggling to keep afloat.
The irrigation scheme in Chimanimani District ward 8 has become a shadow of its former self as the impact of climate change has forced farmers to rely on the unpredictable rains.
During its heydays, the irrigation scheme provided year-round work for many locals—however those days seem distant now as its lifeblood, Nyanyadzi River dried up before the rains came, affecting the livelihoods of local communities that depended on it.
One farmer from the B North Wing of the scheme, Trymore Chipise said they were struggling to put decent meals on their tables because of the water situation.
“When the irrigation system is functioning, some farmers hire people for piece work (maricho in Shona) and that allows even locals who are not in the scheme an opportunity to put food on their tables as they are paid in cash and other goods.
“However, with the current conditions, these opportunities have disappeared. I am struggling to make ends meet because we solely rely on farming and the irrigation scheme.
“With the new school term starting, I am finding it hard to afford my child’s school fees and buy the necessary stationery,” said Chipise.
Another farmer Odicious Kondo who used to make a living from the Nyanyadzi Irrigation Scheme said he was experiencing a downtime in farming due to the river’s inability to supply water.
“The drying up of this river has affected us greatly, I am no longer able to do farming activities throughout the year as I used to. For me, farming was not just a way of life but a business and my primary source of income.
“I used to make a living from growing crops that I would sell to locals and others from as far as Mutare and Bulawayo.
“As a result of lack of irrigation water, the irrigation scheme is slowly turning into a grazing land for goats and cattle,” said Kondo.
A Nyanyadzi resident, Cover Mugebe said in the good old days before the environmental atmospheric changes took a toll, the irrigation used to be flourishing, benefitting the community and animals throughout the seasons.
“Farmers used to rotate crops such as wheat, beans, okra, king onions and maize throughout the year. I still remember some time ago, I picked good quality produce more than six times before they started deteriorating in quality.
“Those days we had enough water and the temperatures were not as hot as they are these days,” said Mugabe.
The scheme’s alternative source of water is the Odzi River, but the challenge is on the water pumps that draw water from the river to the holding dam. The pumps hardly work for a longer period and cannot sustain the whole scheme.
Another challenge with Odzi River is the high cost of fees to be paid by farmers when irrigating their crops, as a farmer is supposed to pays US$15 to irrigate one acre of land whereas they pay only US$1 to irrigate the same piece of land when using water drawn from Nyanyadzi River which uses gradient to draw water to the holding dam.
Another farmer Joel Zviuya said he was not sure they would harvest anything meaningful from the irrigation this season.
“The problem is that the water pumps at our alternative source of water in Odzi River are not working. Things have changed, I am no longer sure if the river will be able to sustain our farming throughout the year as it used to do.
“I don’t know if we are going to make it this year. The river started flowing this year in January after it failed to irrigate crops that had been planted earlier by farmers. Last season we had a similar situation and I had poor harvests after the crops were affected by water shortages,” said Zviuya.
Drying up of rivers and dams in the country can also be attributed to siltation caused by human activities such as farming and mining.
The drying up of rivers in Manicaland province is not only affecting agricultural systems but also the tourism sector.
Nyachowa falls in Chigodora area in Mutare District is also reportedly drying up due to environmental degradation up the stream.
