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Mangaliso L Kabulika
THE bane of perennial crop failures and rampant livestock poverty deaths may soon be a thing of the past for more than 1 000 households in Masvingo and Mwenezi districts once construction of two weir dams that is currently underway is completed.
Seeds for the Future (SEFF) project is building the weir dams that will enable the households to do all-year round crop farming and sustainable livestock farming.
This was revealed in a recent SEFF twitter posting by its Civil and environmental engineer, Mr Vincent Kahondo who said: “We are setting up small weir dams in areas with geological formations, best to harvest seasonal rainwater while improving soil conservation by reducing water run-off. The weir dams have the potential to serve local communities with ecological gardening, livestock and water supply. The mapped sites allow for sizeable throwback and improved hydrology for the area.”
Mr Kahondo said they were currently core-trenching excavations for the two weir dams in Mubagwashe Ward 27 of Masvingo rural district and Mukweva Ward 2 of Mwenezi district with approximately 500 families set to benefit from them. The weir dams are expected to cost approximately US$50 000 each. The communities are contributing through labour and material gathering to support the construction work.
Core-trenching is being done in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Soil Conservation and the Zimbabwe National Water Authority.
“The construction of these weir dams is in line with the national target of 120 weirs in 2023 and is part of the catchment area based soil and water conservation works adopted by the Government at the start of 2023.
“It is part of the initiatives feeding into the soil conservation policy strategic interventions and actions,” Chief director Department of Agricultural, Engineering, Mechanisation and Soil Conservation Engineer Edwin Zimunga observed.
Masvingo is situated in an arid region, which makes it prone to low rainfall and therefore not suitable for dry land crop production and requires livestock watering during the dry season.
Masvingo South, Mwenezi and Chiredzi districts fall under agro-ecological region 5 and are among the worst hit by the current climate change challenges. They receive unreliable and low annual rainfall making it difficult to do both crop and livestock production.
Eng Zimunga added that geography, hydrology and river basin features had determined the site adaptation of weir dams as well as community beneficence.
“The first weir dam is approximately 80 000 cubic metres and is set to drive nutrition gardens and livestock watering. The component of the weir dam is expected to be completed by 31 October, just before the rainy season,” said Eng Zimunga.
SEFF is an Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) funded project that is led by COPSE, which includes Terre Des Hommes Italy (TDH-It), Sustainable Agriculture Technology (SAT), Women and Land in Zimbabwe (WLZ), Community Technology Development Organisation (CTDO), Department of Agricultural, Engineering, Mechanisation and Soil Conservation (DAEMSC) and the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA).
Online Reporter