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George Maponga Masvingo Bureau
Chivi Rural District Council has announced plans to mobilise funds and engage private investors to partner villagers in commercial fishing ventures at Tokwe-Mukosi Dam.
Tokwe-Mukosi Dam is billed to be a fisheries hub, with Government having already launched the provincial Command Fisheries programme at the dam.
Under the Command Fisheries programme, an initial over 200 000 fingerlings (young fish) were stocked in the dam for breeding, with the programme expected to be replicated to other smaller dams dotted around Masvingo province.
Responding to concerns from villagers who wanted to know if they would benefit from the Tokwe-Mukosi fisheries project recently, Chivi RDC chairperson Dr Killer Zivhu said his council would assist them to form fishing co-operatives.
Dr Zivhu said commercial fishing at Tokwe–Mukosi Dam required modern equipment, hence the need to inject funds to procure boats.
‘’The kind of fishing that will take place at Tokwe-Mukosi Dam will not require home-made canoes and ordinary fishing rods, but big sophisticated boats that will catch fish on a commercial scale like what happens in places like Lake Kariba,’’ he said.
‘’Our council will engage private investors who will partner villagers because we know ordinary villagers cannot raise enough money to buy a modern boat for fishing. Our council is working on that and we will definitely assist our villagers.’’
Dr Zivhu said his council would ensure that Chivi villagers were among the first to benefit from Tokwe-Mukosi Dam.
‘’We will make sure that villagers from Chivi are not left out when the Tokwe-Mukosi cake is finally parcelled out. There are a lot of opportunities at Tokwe–Mukosi Dam from fishing to irrigation and we want our people to benefit so that their lives can change,’’ he said.
Built by Government at a cost of nearly $300 million, Tokwe-Mukosi Dam is now Zimbabwe’s largest inland dam with a capacity to hold 1,8 billion cubic metres of water.
The dam was commissioned by President Mugabe in May and will have potential to irrigate over 25 000 hectares.
Besides irrigation, the dam will also house a 15-megawatt mini-hydro power station while a mega national park is planned around its buffer zone.
Online Reporter