adminThe chairperson of the committee running the scheme, Mr John Kibi, said one of the engines pumping water from the Limpopo River had broken down resulting in water shortages.
“Our irrigation scheme has three engines and two of them are not functioning resulting in water shortages. We were then forced to reduce the area under cultivation from 65ha to only 23 ha and we are now appealing to Government and NGOs to chip in and repair the engines,” he said.
Mr Kibi said they were also appealing to authorities to put an electric fence at Tshikwalakwala irrigation scheme as stray elephants from Kruger National Park in South Africa continued to destroy crops and canals.
“Care International recently repaired the fence and the canals but our worry is that elephants continue to stray into the fields and destroy crops and canals. We are therefore appealing to Government to electrify the fence to deter jumbos from destroying our crops,” he said.
The farmers have planted wheat, sorghum and millet. The crops are, however, under constant threat from quelea birds.
“We are forced to spend the whole day guarding the fields so that our crops are not destroyed by quelea birds,” said Mrs Mbulayeni Shoko, a local farmer.
The resident Arex officer, Mr Takudzwa Muzenda, said the scheme requires at least four engines to operate at full capacity.
“The irrigation scheme has three pumps and out of those only one is working and that is a major problem that affects farmers. The scheme requires at least four pumps to effectively operate,” he said.
Established in 1963, Tshikwalakwala irrigation scheme is the second largest in the district after Shashe. Initially it had 208 plot holders with each cultivating 0,2 hectares until some of them got frustrated and pulled out due to water shortages.
Mr Muzenda said they were appealing to the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority and Three Ways Safaris, a local safari operator, contracted by the Beitbridge Rural District Council, to help the local community by addressing the problem of stray animals.
“Farmers have since reduced the hectarage to 23ha due to a constant shortage of water and the continuous problem of elephants.”
Meanwhile, villagers in Tshikwalakwala have expressed concern over the poor road network, saying it made it difficult to distribute food.
A local village head, Ms Elisa Salani, urged GMB to set up a mobile depot in the area to avert the looming food crisis in the area.
“We have never had any GMB depot in our village and therefore we are appealing to government to assist us since this area is very dry and our irrigation scheme is not operating at full throttle,” she said.
Ms Salani said local villagers were forced to travel long distances to grinding mills in Sengwe in neighbouring Chiredzi District.
Beitbridge is a drought-prone district characterised by low rainfall and the population relies mainly on irrigation farming.
Online Reporter