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Dickson Mangena, Business Reporter
THE Government has spent more than $20 million in upgrading irrigation schemes across the country as it moves to ensure there is maximum production to counter effects of drought.
Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Deputy Minister responsible for cropping Davis Marapira said most of the irrigation schemes were covered under the Brazilian More Food Brazilian facility.
“We have 65 projects running under the Brazilian scheme right across the country valued at $20 million and we also have 373 projects under the communal scheme by the Government in which we have spent about $3,7 million,” said Deputy Minister Marapira.
He said the Government has facilitated the servicing of 22 720 hectares of land under its communal irrigation scheme facility.
Deputy Minister Marapira also said there were other projects running, like the public-private irrigation projects and inter-governmental projects that also include a project by a Swiss development organisation.
“However, we want to focus more on harvesting water, we don’t have to allow water back to the sea from our rivers.”
Deputy Minister Marapira said this year the country was likely to have average to above average rainfall and efforts have to be made to prepare to harvest water.
“This year we may actually have the opposite of last year’s El Niño, the la Niño, which is more rainfall than usual for us. We wish that some of the projects that we have identified will be fruitful on the period ahead, like the construction of the Nyatana Dam on the Mazowe River, the Kondo Dam in the Save and the Bindura Dam,” he said.
He said recurrent droughts that the country has been experiencing has affected the performance of agriculture.
“We cannot separate the economy of Zimbabwe from agriculture and with climate change, irrigation has become the pinnacle of Zimbabwe’s agriculture,” said the Deputy Minister.
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