32 farmers benefit from rehabilitated irrigation scheme

At least 32 farmers in Masvingo District are benefiting from Stanmore Irrigation Scheme which was rehabilitated by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) under a multimillion dollar facility supported by the European Union.

The smallholder-farmer managed irrigation scheme covers 32 hectares and is aimed at increasing production, productivity and competitiveness of smallholder-irrigated agriculture in communal and old resettlement areas in the district.

Speaking on the sidelines of a tour of the scheme, its chairperson Mr Amon Bumhudza said the scheme was their solution to the hunger challenges in the district.

“We have benefited so much from this project; our lives have improved ever since we started,” he said. “We now use the irrigation for the purposes of watering our crops, hence we are now able to plant any crops that we want.

“Horticultural crops are the most beneficial because we get orders before they are grown and they mature in a very short space of time.

“We also heard that Government reviewed wheat prices, so we have high expectations for our wheat. The farm is divided into four blocks.

Block A is under wheat and each farmer has 0,25 of a hectare, Block B has horticultural crops and 0,1 of a hectare is under cabbage and the remaining land is used by farmers for independent crops as long as they are related to horticulture. The other 16 hectares had maize under the Command Agriculture programme.

“After the harvest season, we want to plant beans according to our cropping programme.”

Mr Bumhudza said the project was doing well despite a few challenges.

“One of our major challenges is electricity issues. We are now watering after hours, which is not safe, and we also do not get to notice if there are any leaking pipes because it will be dark,” he said.

“The other challenge is that we do not have a combine harvester and we use our hands to harvest the crop, which is not 100 percent effective. So we have appealed to the marketing team to help us get a combine harvester.”

A beneficiary at the scheme, Mrs Anna Chibaya hailed FAO for resuscitating the scheme saying that it managed to improve their livelihoods and so far her family bought two cars from their earnings.

Meanwhile, Chebvute Site in Masvingo District, a project supported by World Food Programme (WFP) Food Assistance for Assets (FFA), is benefiting at least 1 000 households.

The site consists of Chebvute Dam, fish farming ponds and a garden.

WFP monitoring assistant Skubhuzo Moyo said the community met and identified their challenges, then selected what they thought could be the best solutions.

The projects are assisted by WFP through provision of non-food items and funds for the construction, while the community provides labour and locally available resources.