George Maponga in Masvingo
A total of 26 families from the Svondo-Gudhe area of Chivi have been thrown a food security boost after sharing maize and traditional grains produced from the Chombwe Irrigation Scheme demonstration field.

The families co-managed the 0.5 hectares demonstration field that was put under maize, cowpeas, sorghum, rapoko and sunflower to mark the revival of Chombwe Irrigation Scheme, which was commissioned by President Mnangagwa in December last year.

Inputs for the project came from Government under the Pfumvudza scheme and the crops were irrigated using Chombwe water which is pumped from Muzhwi Dam and conveyed to create a greenbelt stretching from Mhandamabwe to Chivi Growth point.

Mr Brighton Hadzirabwi, an Agritex specialist based in Chivi, who was in charge of the Chombwe demonstration field, said there were high hopes of extricating hunger from the district owing to the successes scored at the revived scheme.

Mr Hadzirabwi said plans were underway for families along the Chombwe pipeline to grow winter wheat on selected plots in groups.

The high yields of cereals and traditional grains at the demonstration field had raised expectations of the Chombwe community that the area was on course to be the district’s breadbasket.

Chombwe was revived using devolution funding having been mothballed since the mid-1990s and more than 7 000 rural households are set to benefit from the scheme via irrigating smallholder plots and water for livestock.