Adv Dinha
Political Editor
Thousands of villagers in Mazowe North constituency in Mashonaland Central are set to benefit from four irrigation schemes soon to be established in the area.
Minister of State for Mashonaland Central Provincial Affairs Advocate Martin Dinha, who is also the ruling Zanu-PF candidate in the July 23 by-election, revealed this at the weekend.
The Mazowe North seat fell vacant following the death of Cde Edgar Chidavaenzi, and Adv Dinha is set to see off little known challenger, Mr Elias Malukula of the Renewal Democrats of Zimbabwe.
Adv Dinha said Mashonaland Central was failing to fully utilise its concentration of water bodies and he looked forward to establishing four irrigation schemes in Mazowe North and help thousands of households achieve food security and create employment.
“We earmarked four irrigation schemes around the entire constituency and from our estimation, the four irrigation schemes per average can feed not less that 10 000 people in the constituency,” he told The Herald.
“These will be at Chinehasha, Galloway, Donje Farm and between Chaona and Chigwida.
“So we are targeting the four critical irrigation schemes. We can create employment for 10 000 people around the irrigation schemes. We are doing a scientific assessment on irrigation schemes to look at the production we can come out with in those four schemes. This is an imperative.”
The schemes cover resettlement farmers at Galloway and the remainder in the communal areas.
Already, the Galloway project has been in the works and Adv Dinha oversaw that as provincial minister.
“It was introduced by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and there already are centre pivots all around.
“We have settlers who agreed to let out their land, 4 500 hectares of land, for purposes of irrigation through modern methods of centre pivots and so forth,” he said.
He said underutilisation of water bodies was detrimental to the development of the country.
“We are sitting on money; we are sitting on development and we are sitting on employment opportunities for our people,” said Adv Dinha.
Meanwhile, the prospective legislator addressed several meetings in the constituency explaining how Zanu-PF decided to field him for the Mazowe North berth.
He dispelled reports in some sections of the media that he had been imposed by the party’s national political commissar Cde Saviour Kasukuwere.
He recounted his achievements as former executive mayor of the provincial capital, Bindura, and his tenure as provincial minister since 2008.