The Sunday Mail
Senior Reporter
Government will complete installing irrigation equipment at 179 farming co-operatives in June in time for preliminary 2016/17 summer cropping preparations, an official has said.
The equipment, procured under Brazil’s More Food for Africa Programme, was delivered in May 2015 to beat drought and end over-reliance on rain.
Though engineers have put in some work, progress has been minimal, with many co-operatives still to use the machinery optimally.
Over 22 000 households in communal and A1 farming areas will benefit.
Each benefiting irrigation scheme got centre pivots, hose reels, irrigators, tractors, planters, disc harrows, fertiliser spreaders, knapsack sprayers and pumps, among other equipment.
Agriculture Deputy Minister Davis Marapira (Cropping, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development) told The Sunday Mail last week: “179 schemes have already received the equipment, and most of it has been fully installed. The rest is at various stages of installation.
“We expect to have completed installing all the equipment by June 2016 in time for summer cropping preparations. This equipment will go some way in reducing Zimbabwe’s reliance on rain-fed agriculture.
“This over-reliance has resulted in massive crop losses in cases where rainfall hasn’t been adequate. When the irrigation equipment goes online, we anticipate the average yield per hectare will vastly improve.”
Zimbabwe Farmers’ Union executive director Mr Paul Zakariya said, “There is progress in terms of the availability of equipment at some irrigation schemes. There is a visible level of progress indeed.
“What is required now is creating market linkages so that farmers produce for specific markets and make enough money to repay loans. These linkages should be created for high-value cash crops.”
Zimbabwe, like most of Southern Africa, is experiencing drought.
Not much is expected from the fields, with general assessments indicating huge write-offs in some districts and traditional bread baskets like the Mashonaland provinces are likely to produce only enough for themselves.
The latest Vulnerability Assessment Committee Rapid Assessment Report states that the number of food insecure people has reached three million, and President Mugabe has declared the season a disaster with Government putting out an international appeal for US$1,6 billion to guarantee food security.
