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Thupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
Crop production has been on the decline in Beitbridge district during the last three years and there is need for communities to partner development agencies and to invest more in irrigation supported farming, Beitbridge East legislator, Cde Albert Nguluvhe has said.
He said this on Tuesday while donating maize seed to over 150 farmers at Tongwe (Ward 4), Tshabiko (Ward 13), and River Ranch (Ward 6) irrigation projects.
He said it was also important for communal farmers to be capacitated to produce more for themselves and the nation.
Cde Nguluvhe said there was also need for the Government and community leaders to create market linkages for irrigation and smallholder farmers to boost the food value chain.
“We have been hit by devastating droughts for more than three years in this region,” he said.
“However, we cannot fold our hands and mourn, it is time we focus more on irrigation development as a way of adapting to climate change.
“What we need to focus on now is to revive or create one model irrigation project per ward to boost issues of food nutrition at that level”.
Cde Nguluvhe said he was engaging several development players to train and capacitate smallholder farmers in the area so that they may take up farming as a business.
He said irrigation water has become elusive in some areas where many plot holders were failing to raise funds to repair broken down pumps or to electrify their projects.
In other cases, he said the farmers were pulling out due to viability issues.
“As much as we are mobilising resources as community leaders, it is also critical for the plot holders themselves to invest in their project.
They need to look at farming as a business they need to invest so that they may enjoy the fruits at a later stage. We need to improve on sustainability of such projects,” said Cde Nguluvhe.
He said although the district was good for livestock production it was wise to blend that with crop production mainly through irrigation farming.
Meanwhile, the district Agriculture Extension Services (Agritex), Mr Masauso Mawocha said they had trained over 11 000 communal farmers on the climate-proofing based farming (Pfumvudza).
He said they distributed inputs including maize, sorghum, pearl millet, soya beans and sunflower seed, fertilizers to 4200 farmers.
“The project is ongoing. Our target is to train 16 000 farmers and to distribute inputs to at least 11 000 households,” said Mr Mawocha.
Online Reporter