daniel chigunwe
Precious Manomano
Herald Reporter
In line with President Mnangagwa’s vision of turning villages into greenbelts under the Presidential Rural Development Programme, communities in Bindura South are reaping huge benefits as part of the programme to climate proof the country’s agriculture and ensure food security.
The communities are relying on irrigation to produce the crops. Drawing water through canals from a spring, the community has established a thriving winter maize and wheat crop, mixed gardening with tomatoes, leafy vegetables and butternut.
So far about 300 families are taking part in different productions at the scheme indicating that all communities in ward 12 have their lives transformed through amazing works that are done as a result of Tsunda irrigation scheme.
The project is complementing President Mnangagwa’s policy that envisages drilling about 35 000 boreholes in the country’s villages and schools as part of efforts to develop rural communities through water harvesting for irrigation purposes.
Buyers are coming from Harare, Mt Darwin, Shamva, Mazowe to Tsunda village to buy tomatoes and vegetables for resale.
This dovetails with Government’s drive for rural industrialisation and development.
Members of ward 12 community have expressed gratitude over the Government’s commitment of improving the use of canals to ensure the efficient running of the irrigation.
A youthful farmer Mr Joshua Vambe indicated that the irrigation project was set to go a long way in addressing the scourge of hunger in the ward adding that they can provide food and send children to school.
“This is an amazing project, we can sell our produce and send our children to school. We grow crops that are on demand so markets are guaranteed. The only challenge we encounter is availability of transport if we want to transport to faraway places but so far the scheme is paying dividends to farmers,’’ he said.
Mrs Elizabeth Chiweshe said women in the area were relying on their husbands for survival, adding that the irrigation scheme came to rescue women from being abused and harassed by their husbands.
“Women can grow crops for sale, what they earn will add to their husbands’ incomes hence chances of gender based violence are minimised. It’s not easy to rely on husbands so we urge other women to participate in irrigation schemes so as to boost food security for our families and nation at large.
“I grow different produce including pumpkin leaves and butternuts and they are in high demand. As women, let’s work hard to feed our families and also this helps to stabilise marriages,’’ she said.
Mr Amos Bube said majority of people are relying on farming, adding that the irrigation scheme has totally transformed the area.
“Various productions are taking place here so we are earning a living through farming. We grow crops all year round so we are utilising our irrigation scheme wisely to ensure that we feed our families and sell the surplus,’’ he said.
Tsunda irrigation scheme secretary, Mrs Elizabeth Chivandire indicated that she is grateful to the President following the Presidential Inputs programme that the community is benefiting from.
She added that Pfumvudza programme is also alleviating hunger in the community.
“This year we have increased our wheat to 10 hectares. This year’s wheat is in good condition and we are expecting six tonnes per hectare.
“We have watermelons, green beans and other foods. We have also secured markets in large retail shops that are found in different parts of the country. We are also getting inputs on time,’’ she said.
Bindura South Member of Parliament Cde Remigious Matangira said the project will also guarantee food nutrition for local villagers and surrounding communities in line with the National Development Strategy 1.
He added that crops are now locally available and people no longer have to travel long distances to buy the produce.
“Our local communities are improving and diversifying. We have several irrigation schemes and they have doing so well. Because of the climate change, those with irrigation should utilise them. Farmers should get seeds which are resistant to droughts,’’ he said.
Other irrigation schemes that are functional in ward 12 include Nhunguza, Muunganirwa, Kahari, Nyakedyazuva, Semawu, Gwezere and Mundotwe.
The Second Republic is on a drive to rehabilitate dams and construct new ones as part of efforts to avoid relying on rain fed agriculture, but on irrigation, so as to avoid food deficit.
This is meant to achieve an upper middle income economy by 2030 in line with the National Development Strategy 1 economic blueprint.
This season the Government is intending to increase the area under irrigation by rehabilitating non-functional irrigation schemes as part of efforts to improve agricultural production to mitigate effects of climate change.
Government is targeting 460 irrigation schemes towards maize and this season about 90 000ha of potential irrigation have been identified for maize as the Government scales up efforts to boost food production in face of El Nino season.
It is also targeting to increase the area under irrigation from the current 193 000ha to 350 000hactares by 2025 as the country aims to boost production.
The intention is to fight the effects of climate change although irrigation farming helps farmers in diversifying their farming operations thereby allowing them to grow crops all year round rather than engaging in seasonal productions.
In a recent interview,Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Minister Dr Anxious Masuka said the country is focusing on maximising irrigation so that it produces sufficient food for its people.
“We are also looking at identifying farmers with individual irrigation and all the irrigation schemes, the 460 of them will be obliged to do some irrigated maize. We have identified 90 000ha of potential irrigation for maize this summer.
“We now have farmers in every ward and we will be assigning them to Agritex officers so that they come on board,’’ he said.
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