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Farirai Machivenyika, Senior Reporter
The irrigation scheme established near Chivhu Dam and commissioned by President Mnangagwa last year, expects a bumper wheat harvest of up to 600 tonnes from the 105 hectares put under the crop this season.
Apart from the irrigation scheme, a fishery and water treatment plant were also commissioned by the President.
Zimbabwe National Water Authority’s Chivhu Dam resident engineer, Samuel Tsuro, confirmed the expected bumper harvest in an interview on the sidelines of the ongoing tour of Zinwa projects by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement.
“We have earmarked 120 hectares for the irrigation scheme, but the production this year is from 105 hectares, the other 15 hectares still have some resettlement issues; there are still some homesteads in the fields so we did not use all the land for irrigation,” he said.
“We are expecting between 500 and 600 tonnes of wheat. Last year, we did 400 tonnes but due to improvements in farming techniques and soil management, we expect to get at least five tonnes per hectare, which will come to at least 500 tonnes.”
The irrigation scheme, which was created from a cooperative of about 40 households affected by the dam construction, is coordinated by various entities in the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development that include Zinwa, ARDA, GMB and Agriculture Extension and Research Services (Agritex).
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Eng Tsuro said the dam had tripled the supply of treated water to Chivhu town from 150 million cubic metres to 450 cubic metres adding their next target was to construct reservoirs to ensure supply of water even in periods of electricity outages.
“The dam has resulted in guaranteed supply of portable water to 6 000 Chivhu households,” he added.
The Committee’s acting Chairperson, Cde Tafanana Zhou, thanked President Mnangagwa for the integrated approach in dam construction.
“We would like to commend the approach by the Second Republic under the leadership of President Mnangagwa that ensures maximum utilisation of our water resources for the local communities.
“We would want to see more of such projects countrywide,” said Cde Zhou.
Chivhu Dam is one of the high-impact dams constructed by the Second Republic to ensure food security through irrigation.
Other dams constructed and completed by the Second Republic include Muchekeranwa in Marondera and Marovanyati in Buhera.
Additional dams such as Kunzvi, Semwa, Silverstroom and Lake Gwayi-Shangani, among others, are at different stages of construction.
The Government funded the whole project to the tune of US$42 million using domestic resources.
The project has three components; the earth dam with a holding capacity of 26 million cubic metres, a water treatment plant with a capacity of 450 cubic metres per hour to supply domestic and industrial water to the expanding town of Chivhu, which now has an estimated population of 45 000, and an irrigation scheme with 120 hectares of arable and irrigable land.
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