By Beatific Gumbwanda
CHIREDZI– Sugarcane farmers in the Lowveld have bemoaned long hours of load shedding which they said was immensely affecting their crop.
This is mostly affecting those using pivots as their irrigation schedules had been grossly disturbed.
One seasoned sugarcane farmer, Colonel Philip Toperesu, expressed dissatisfaction to TellZim News over the current state of his crop, which he said had been saved by the rains after they were about to reach a total wilting stage.
“We can’t talk of irrigation without electricity, its hard for some of us who are using pivots because they require more electricity power to function so load shedding has brought us the worst season ever.
“I think as farmers, we should get a dedicated power supply or even to get electricity about four times a week than these long hours of load shedding, it’s not feasible for us farmers, our yield have been totally reduced, we will not harvest what we expected,” said Toperesu.
Another successful farmer, former Chiredzi Town Council (CTC) Chairperson, Francis Moyo said they were missing their irrigation schedules due to load shedding and were forced to work during the night when electricity gets back.
“We are missing our irrigation schedules and are being forced to work during the night. I have two pivots which I operate on my farm and they require a lot of power,” said Moyo.
Zimbabwe’s sugar industry is currently on the brink, with the country’s sole sugar miller, Tongaat Hullet Zimbabwe (THZ) targeting a massive retrenchment exercise targeting about 1000 employees from its two mills, Hippo Valley and Triangle due to economic problems.
During its milling season, Tongaat Hullet Zimbabwe (THZ) produces more than 7 megawatt of electricity daily.
The tenets of devolution implies that the local community, in this case Chiredzi, should benefit from the power generated by the company (THZ) which operates in its region, but however the power is benefitting other ZETDC priority areas, whilst neglecting sugarcane farmers who produces the cane whose bagasse is used for electricity generating.
Influential dams, including Manjirenji, has been operating on low levels giving more challenges to Mkwasine Farmers as they struggle to get enough water for irrigation. Tugwi-Mukosi Dam, the largest inland lake in Zimbabwe, is being underutilized by the authorities, where about 5 megawatt of electricity is expected to be generated daily from the water which is later used for irrigation in the Lowveld.
