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AS the country continues to experience erratic rainfall it does not need a rocket scientist to pronounce that rain-fed agricultural activities are no longer sustainable and reliable. This then calls for farmers to concentrate on cultivating crops under irrigation. One scholar defines irrigation farming as the ministering of land through the artificial application of water to ensure double cropping as well as steady supply of water in areas where rainfall is unreliable.
Drawing this into perspective the recurrent droughts that continue to hit provinces lying under the country’s agricultural regions four and five where people hardly harvest anything because of the poor rainfall, it is important to take irrigation farming seriously. On its part the Government with the assistance of non-governmental organisations has been active in rehabilitating irrigation schemes and setting up new ones in a bid to improve food security in the country.
In Matabeleland South, one of the provinces characterised by low rainfall patterns there are more than 44 irrigation schemes of varying sizes with a combined area of about 2 160 hectares and more than 4 000 plot-holders and this is part of moves to mitigate the effects of recurrent droughts. For his part President Mugabe has been encouraging Zimbabweans to take irrigation farming seriously. The President in one of his addresses said the country sometimes faces food shortages because of inept officials who were failing to come up with methods of harnessing rain water for irrigation. He once said if the rain water received every year was harnessed, the country could be able to put a larger hectarage under irrigation.
We, therefore, welcome developments that strategic irrigation schemes in Matabeleland South and Matabeleland North, Antelope Estate and Jotsholo respectively have risen from the dead with production now in full swing.
In today’s edition we carry stories in our business section on the two estates which are owned by Arda although Antelope is now being run in a partnership with Trek Petroleum.
In Antelope Arda is anticipating to harvest more that 2 000 tonnes of winter wheat under the joint management with Trek Petroleum, which saw the fuel dealer investing about $1,2 million into the operations of the irrigation scheme in the process creating at least 200 jobs while in Jotsholo there is the re-introduction of rice production, which was stopped more than a decade ago due to insufficient water supplies for irrigation.
Arda board chairman Mr Basil Nyabadza said the parastatal was in the process of engaging the Ministry of Environment, Water and Climate and prospective partners to address the challenge of siltation which has affected Tshongogwe Dam’s water carrying capacity over the years. The once 174 000 cubic metre dam was the source of water for the 519 hectare Arda Jotsholo Estate.
“We want to revive rice production but we have a problem of siltation. We need to manage the water so that it is available throughout the year, we are losing a lot of water through siltation. We can also expand to horticulture project. So Jotsholo Estate can do horticulture, cereal cropping as well as dedicated rice production value-adding at site, which is exactly what we want to do under Zim Asset,” Mr Nyabadza said.
Arda used to crop, process and package rice at its state-of-the-art plant at the estate from the 1990s until 2006.
This is good news to the communities where these irrigation schemes are situated as meaningful production would come with the creation of employment for the locals, improved nutritional levels and wider socio-economic benefits. Besides the socio-economic benefits the communities would also be able to practise their agricultural activities throughout the year in the process increasing food production and alleviating poverty. Such activities also dove-tail with the country’s economic blueprint, Zim Asset.
We hope such activities would also spread to other parts of the country so that communities who are reeling under the economic challenges caused by sanctions also benefit. With enough support that is not impossible as Zimbabweans are a hard working lot.
Online Reporter