The Sunday Mail
Government is prioritising dam construction and irrigation schemes to counter climate change effects on agriculture, a Cabinet minister has said.
Environment, Water and Climate Minister Saviour Kasukuwere told The Sunday Mail that authorities have formulated the Climate Change Response Strategy, which gives comprehensive direction during dry spells.
The Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio Economic Transformation (Zim Asset) also targets building and rehabilitating dams to expand water storage capacity.
“Government is seized with putting in place measures to mitigate the effects of climate change, especially given the overarching effects on agricultural productivity,” said Minister Kasukuwere.
“We are dealing with the problem by advocating the construction of more dams countrywide. That is why you see us always pushing for funding to build dams. This will help shield our farmers from the vagaries of climate change and help sustain the agricultural growth we have recorded in recent years.
“As Government, we have a response strategy whose details I cannot tell you off-hand. However, this is a public document that you can access easily at the ministry. We are already implementing parts of the document.”
Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (Arda) board chair Mr Basil Nyabadza encouraged farmers to focus on irrigation.
“Because of the late onset of rains and mid-season dry spells, some of our farmers are not harvesting as much as they should, especially groundnuts, roundnuts and rice.”
