Deal to revamp irrigation sealed.
Shame Makoshori Senior Business Reporter
GOVERNMENT has struck a deal with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to revive small-scale irrigation schemes in four districts of Zimbabwe as the country moves to increase agricultural output and mitigate the effects of climate change.
Climate change has resulted in erratic rainfall patterns and unpredictable weather, which has affected food output in Zimbabwe, where agriculture is the backbone of economic development.
In a joint statement this week, the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement and IFAD said 75 000 people and 12 500 households will benefit from the irrigation projects, which will be carried out in Manicaland, Masvingo, Matabeleland South and Midlands.
“The International. Fund for Agricultural Development, Government of Zimbabwe and OFID (Opec Fund for International Development) are financing the Smallholder Irrigation Revitalisation Programme (SIRP). The aim of the programme is to achieve food and nutrition security and ensure that small communities are resilient to climate change effects and economic shocks by enhancing household production, productivity and income levels as well as improving access to agricultural’ markets and financial services,” the statement said.
“SIRP seeks to revitalise about 6 100 hectares of existing smallholder irrigation schemes, mostly in communal and old resettlement areas in natural regions 111, IV and V in the provinces of Manicaland. Masvingo, Matabeleland South and Midlands.
“An estimated 15 000 poor food insecure or food deficit households, representing 75 000 persons, that are engaging in irrigation agriculture in the existing irrigation schemes and 12 500 households with no access to irrigation in the adjacent rain-fed areas are expected to directly benefit from SIRP’s intervention,” said the joint statement.
This week, the statement said the project was now moving forward, with tenders for the supply of motorbikes and other equipment being opened.
Other programmes that have been mooted to improve food security include The Harmonised Cash Transfer Programme (HCTP), which has reduced reliance on food gifts among its beneficiaries.
The HCTP, which is a social protection initiative, is an unconditional cash transfer programme where beneficiary households receive a bi-monthly cash transfer that varies with household size.
On average, the transfer value is about 20 percent of total pre-programme household consumption expenditure. .Beneficiary eligibility to the programme is based on food scarcity and the labour-constrained status of households.
Official studies show that food security among the beneficiaries of the programme had improved since the programme started in 2011.