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Precious Manomano-Herald Reporter
More than 3 000ha of extra land for winter wheat have been unlocked from “ghost” acres during the Government farm audit now in progress countrywide to ensure that land is fully used.
The audit is checking both the land available to go under winter irrigation for wheat and the state of the dams that supply the irrigation water.
Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Permanent Secretary Professor Obert Jiri said a recent Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) audit of available water showed that about 141 000ha of wheat is ready to be supported this year, significantly more than the original national target of 123 000ha.
Speaking on the sidelines of a ZINWA stakeholder and farmers interactive session in Harare he said there was enough irrigation water stored to cope with demand over the next 21 months.
“We dispatched teams led by the ZINWA CEO to every farm, particularly to those hotspot areas around the ‘ghost’ acres in Banket where we have unlocked another 2 000ha, Marondera in Mashonaland East 200ha and 1000ha in the Sherwood Block. We have instructed them to bring these under wheat and what they were looking at is to match every hectare of wheat with the water they should use,” he said.
Zimbabwe had more than enough of the water required for the winter wheat productions.
“ZINWA has looked at every hectare and every farmer to see how much water was required to successfully achieve the targeted 120 000ha of winter wheat. It has reduced the tariff by 33 percent, and it has allowed farmers to pay their bills at the end of the season. It has also reduced the use of 7,5 megalitres per ha to 5 megalitres per ha in a bid to make sure that farmers have sufficient water for winter wheat production so water for the winter wheat is available this season,”he said.
Farmers can now pay for irrigation water once they are paid for their wheat, with the interest starting to be charged after they are paid. They will get the last portion of outstanding payments for past crops at the end of this week.
ZINWA chief executive Engineer Taurayi Maurukira said the country’s dams continue to hold sufficient water to satisfy the irrigation water requirements.
“What is now pertinent and key to the success of the 2024 winter cropping season is for the alignment of the available water resources to the activities of the farmers on the ground to allow for the optimal and sustainable extraction of the resource.
“Our intention for this interactive session is to provide a one-stop shop for the smooth and seamless access to water by the farmers as we rigorously pursue the winter wheat target of at least 120 000 hectares,.
He urged farmers to plant all the hectarage they had planned for the season. Zinwa had done a thorough audit of water reserves in every system and compared the available stock with the intended hectarage and concluded that there was sufficient water for everyone.
Farmers must have agreements with Zinwa before they get water, which will also give an accurate picture of this season’s water use patterns and allow them to predict the future.
ZINWA, in support of the Government’s thrust of sparing no efforts in achieving wheat-based food security through sweating irrigation potential, would be implementing seasonal billing, but only for those A2 farmers with stop order arrangements with either their financiers or off-takers of their produce.
Farmers were thus encouraged to take full advantage of this arrangement, which allows them uninterrupted access to water during the season while giving them an opportunity to settle their bills after getting paid for their harvest.
Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union (ZCFU) chairman for Mashonaland Central Mr Daniel Chinyemba said the quality of water should be monitored. Mining and siltation were the major challenges that are affecting the quality in dams for irrigation,
“There is a lot of river mining. People are mining along the rivers and they are contaminating the water and also silting the dams. This should be addressed once and for all. They are resisting and some of them have licenses. They are destroying our pumps as well as the quality of the water, so we call for authorities to ban mining in rivers,” he said.
Farmers are encouraged to form associations to ensure coordinated releases and irrigation schedules.
Peter Tanyanyiwa
Online Reporter