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From George Maponga in Masvingo
Disaster looms in the Lowveld sugarcane industry with major dams that supply irrigation water to over 40 000 hectares of sugar cane in Chiredzi and Triangle reportedly left with less than two months’ supply of water.
Irrigation water supplies to cane plantations at Triangle and Hippo Valley will be disconnected on December 15 by Zinwa unless supply dams in the Mutirikwe/Tokwe river system get reasonable inflows.
Dams in the Mutirikwe/Tokwe river system, namely Lake Mutirikwi, Bangala and Muzhwi supply water to irrigate over 70 percent of the entire area under sugar cane in the Lowveld.
The three dams supply irrigation water to Hippo Valley,Triangle and Mupapa estates which straddle over 40 000 hectares.
Sugar producer Tongaat Hulett owns cane fields that cover nearly 30 000 hectares at Triangle and Hippo, with out-growers, mainly beneficiaries of the Government’s land reform programme, owning plantations that extend over 15 000 hectares.
Poor rains caused by the El-Nino phenomenon last rainy season saw dams in the Mutirikwe/Tokwe river systems recording insignificant inflows into the reservoirs.
Water level in Lake Mutirikwi, Zimbabwe’s largest inland dam, now stands at 8,6 percent while Bangala is 12,6 percent full with Muzhwi at 10,1 percent.
Zinwa is now giving farmers 63 percent of required quantities to make sure the dams do not dry up early.
Details to follow….
Online Reporter