George Maponga Masvingo Bureau —
Mwenezi is arguably one of the driest districts in Masvingo province which has earned notoriety for perennial droughts that have led to food shortages. The district, in the southern part of Masvingo, is synonymous with food shortages with hunger-stricken villagers relying on the benevolence of donororganisations and Government assistance to escape the jaws of starvation almost annually.
Despite the ravages of drought in Mwenezi, the district is home to one of Masvingo’s largest rivers – the perennially flowing Mwenezi – that is a major tributary of the giant Manyuchi Dam. Besides irrigating sugar cane fields at Mwenezana estates in the district, Manyuchi Dam water has largely been lying idle while adjacent fields suffer moisture stress every year.
The dam – with a capacity of over 300 000 mega-litres of water – was built by the Mwenezi Development Corporation to provide water for a planned palm estate plantation that suffered a stillbirth.
It has been lying idle despite having potential to irrigate over 10 000 hectares in the arid Matibi 1 and Maranda communal lands in Mwenezi. Save for smaller irrigation schemes that produce cereals such as Dinhe in the western part of the district and Lapache to the south, there are currently no major irrigation schemes in Mwenezi.
Boasting one of the biggest dams in the entire Masvingo, Mwenezi was supposed to be one of the torch bearers in the new thrust to shift from rain-fed agriculture to irrigation, for long touted as the province’s answer to recurrent food woes.
This year between 150 000 to 200 000 villagers are in dire need of food aid in Mwenezi following a catastrophic nationwide drought blamed on the El-Nino weather phenomenon.
With proper planning, Manyuchi Dam could have been a panacea to food woes in Mwenezi as the dam has the capacity to produce enough food for the district considering that under irrigation crops could be grown at least three times per annum.
The failure to tap Manyuchi Dam water for irrigation is a microcosm of Masvingo province’s failure to take advantage of its very high dam density to launch a major irrigation development programme that would transform the province into an agricultural giant in Zimbabwe.
Besides Manyuchi, the province boasts Lake Mutirikwi, Mushandike and Bangala in Masvingo district, Bindamombe and Muzhwi in Chivi, Manjirenji and Siya in Zaka, Rozva in Bikita, Ruti and Matezva in Gutu.
All these big reservoirs are heavily underutilised with an average of less than 20 percent of their total irrigation potential currently being utilised save for Lake Mutirikwi, Bangala and Manjirenji that supply Lowveld cane plantations with irrigation water.
With a capacity of 1,3 million cubic metres, Lake Mutirikwi – which is Zimbabwe’s largest inland water body – could provide water to create perennial greenbelts under irrigation in Murinye, Zano and Chikwanda communal lands in Masvingo district.
Masvingo Provincial Affairs Minister Senator Shuvai Mahofa says they are currently pursuing an aggressive irrigation development programme aimed at making sure all idle dams are fully utilised to end the scourge of hunger.
“We want to use all the idle water in our major dams in this province to grow food because we cannot continue to beg for food every year yet we have the water.
“We need to start thinking seriously about fully utilisation of our water for irrigation. Masvingo is potentially a rich province and agriculture under irrigation can lead the revival of the province’s economic fortunes,’’ said Senator Mahofa.
Preliminary estimates indicate that at least 50 000 hectares could be put under irrigation to produce cereals in Masvingo if water in these major dams is fully utilised for irrigation.
Currently the province has less than 2 000 hectares under irrigated cereals, a mockery considering Masvingo’s vast irrigation potential. Chivi Rural District Council chairman Councillor Killer Zivhu says there is need to invest more in irrigation development if Masvingo is to ward off perennial food shortages.
Councillor Zivhu – who is involved in the rehabilitation of small dams in Chivi under the village Zim-Asse-concept in the district – says Masvingo has the potential to sit at the apex of the country’s major food growing regions.
“We need to take the issue of irrigation development seriously exploiting the numerous water sources that we have to produce food.
“Masvingo province has good soils and all we need is to invest in machinery to develop sufficient irrigation schemes that will produce food all year round,’’ he says.
“There is no other province in this country that has more dams than Masvingo but we rely on food from other regions every year. It is high time we should start seriously thinking about irrigation. We should take a leaf from other countries like Israel which is largely a desert but is a major wheat producer in the world courtesy of irrigation,’’ added Councillor Zivhu.
He said the coming on board of Tokwe-Mukosi dam should further consolidate Masvingo’s position as the irrigation hub of the nation.
“The reason some of us will want to remain in council (Chivi RDC) even after 2018 is because we want our people to benefit from Tokwe-Mukosi through irrigation. The dam will open opportunities for our people in Chivi and Masvingo districts to open vast tracts of land to irrigation and we want to help them achieve that dream,’’ added Councillor Zivhu.
Zanu PF secretary for production and former Masvingo Governor Cde Josaya Hungwe bemoaned the underutilisation of Masvingo’s major dams saying the private sector should help Government develop irrigation schemes across the province.
He said water from Muzhwi dam could turn northern parts of Chivi into a perennial greenbelt saying talks were underway with investors to develop a major irrigation scheme in the area.
“There is also need change colonial agreements that make it impossible to tap water from dams such as Lake Mutirikwi, Bangala and Manjirenji that were built specifically for the Lowveld sugar cane plantations,’’ he said.
“Our province is still to reap the full benefits of being home to major dams and we will continue to push central Government so that more irrigation schemes can be opened to benefit our people,’’ added Cde Hungwe.
He revealed that plans were underway to develop irrigation schemes at Magudu Ranch in southern Masvingo and also at the Nuanetsi Ranch using water from the perennially flowing Mutirikwe and Runde rivers.
The impending completion of Tokwe-Mukosi dam would bolster the province’s irrigation potential further as the dam has potential to irrigate more than 25 000ha on its own.
Already there are clamours across the province to speed up designing work and feasibility study on the Runde-Tende dam to be built at the confluence of Runde and Tende rivers in Chivi. But the province seems to already have too many existing dams that remain largely underutilised.