Soon after independence the government put great emphasis on setting up irrigation schemes to boost agricultural production in view of the changing weather patterns. But 34 years after independence most of the once-prosperous schemes are now a pale shadow of themselves – as they have either collapsed or face imminent collapse.
A few are still functioning despite the challenges. Located about 20 km south of Masvingo, the Mushandike irrigation scheme has stood the test of time and continues to supply the city and surrounding areas with horticultural produce. This includes cabbages, tomatoes, beans, peas and green maize.
All these crops are grown round the clock and have managed to transform the lives of villagers, who entirely depend on the scheme for survival, although they also keep cattle, which they use for draught power.
Year-round production
“We grow crops throughout the year and we are taking farming very serious because this is where our bread is buttered,” said local farmer Robert Munongo. His family has its own piece of land in the 1,000-hectare irrigation scheme, which supports about 700 farmers now.
According to Munongo there used to be 800 farmers but some have stopped growing crops because of water shortages. “We are our own workers and employers since we manage our time to go the fields to plough or do some weeding,” said Munongo. “We have managed to send our children to school, in fact we are just like workers working in industries in towns and cities.”
The scheme is facing serious water problems in addition to dilapidated infrastructure. It relies mostly on flood irrigation but most of the canals are now very old and need to be rehabilitated. In addition, the Mushandike dam a few kilometres north of the scheme has not enough water to sustain operations round the clock.
$20 million needed
As a result the farmers are desperately looking for $20 million financial injection to be able to construct a new, big canal from Muzhwi Dam about 30 km away from the scheme. The chairman of Mushandike Irrigation Trust, Rogers Matsikidze, said “Our only option in terms of increasing water availability is tapping water from Muzhwi Dam and this needs a lot of money.”
He appealed to both government and the corporate world to come to the rescue of the irrigation scheme which has stood the test of time. When everything was rosy farmers said that they at times engaged into contract farming with large companies. “We used to enter into contracts with Cairns Foods and we were producing tomatoes, peas, and beans for them,” said Emelda Farirepi of village 12. “Those days we had no problems in marketing our produce unlike today where sometimes we have to engage in street vending. The nearby Masvingo- Beitbridge highway has also become a good place for us to sell our produce,” said Farirepi.
Davies Marapira, the deputy minister of agriculture responsible for cropping, said there was urgent need to revive the country’s irrigation schemes to boost agricultural production. “A serious farmer should not rely on the rains alone but should have a reliable source of water to ensure maximum production,” he said. Marapira, who himself is a farmer, said his ministry would soon set targets for A2 farmers and those who do not meet those targets will lose their land. “We have Agritex officials on the ground who will supervise production by each individual farmer and based on the reports we get we will be able to assess each individual farmer,” he said.
Soon after he was appointed deputy minister last year Marapira said the government had secured a $98 million loan from Brazil aimed at rehabilitating irrigation schemes. It could not be established whether the loan facility had come through yet.
Post published in: Agriculture