Yesterday we published two stories on Binga’s Bulawayo Kraal Irrigation Scheme which has basically not functioned since its establishment in 2004.  

Two loaded photographs went with the pieces, one showing a centre pivot — that quintessential piece of modern irrigation equipment — standing idle over wild shrubbery. Another shows a centre pivot towering over a pearl millet crop that appears to be suffering moisture stress. Nothing captures the extent of the collapse, and the irony at the scheme better than those images.  We don’t normally use centre pivots to irrigate wild shrubs. Also, pearl millet, a hardy traditional grain, is now known to be grown under irrigation in our country.  

The centre pivots have been left to rust over overgrown grass and thorny bushes instead of cabbage, lettuce, tomato and other horticultural crops. Elsewhere at the irrigation scheme, engines and pipes have been vandalised, the same for the perimeter fence. One or two villagers continue to grow crops such as pearl millet under the centre pivots.

Considering its immense potential to reduce poverty, create jobs, improve food security in Binga District as well as Matabeleland North Province, and the fact that expensive equipment is already in place on a site that is near a perennial water source, Bulawayo Kraal Irrigation Scheme must not be left like that.

Rain-fed agriculture in the district is generally risky because the area is dry. That is why villagers tend to grow millet and sorghum and very small portions of maize. These crops frequently fail so the people of Binga almost always need food aid.  

Bulawayo Kraal Irrigation Scheme is designed to draw water from the Zambezi River to irrigate 400 hectares with plans to expand it to 15 000ha. Yes, the Zambezi is supporting some businesses in Binga, among them tourism and fishing, but the river is not being sufficiently used for irrigation purposes.  In fact, the record is that of the five operational irrigation schemes in the district, only one — Mlibizi that is supported by the Zambezi River Authority — draws its water from the Zambezi. The other four — Lungwalala, Nzovunde, Tyabala and Nabusenga irrigation schemes — are watered by dams. 

Bulawayo Kraal must be the second. There have been attempts under the Zambezi Green Valley project of which the Bulawayo Kraal is part, to make that possible. Some 100ha was cleared for planting in 2015 and equipment including the centre pivots that are now rusting, was delivered on site. 

Since then and for various reasons nothing meaningful has been happening at the planned project. An investor, picked three years ago to develop Bulawayo Kraal, left in 2018.  

The latest effort that seeks to revive the scheme under a model that has given life back to Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (Arda) farms in some parts of the country, must succeed. 

Under that model, the Government, which owns Arda estates, is inviting private investors to put money into the properties to get them up and running. As a result, at least 15 of Arda’s 22 farms are now doing well. Antelope Estate in Kezi in Matabeleland South, Fair Acres Estate in Silobela in the Midlands, Ingwizi Estate in Mangwe in Matabeleland South and Mbuya Nehanda Estate in Mashonaland West Province are now thriving after the Government allowed Arda to partner private investors.

“There was a Government directive that Bulawayo Kraal Irrigation Scheme should be handed over to Arda and that was effected,” said Matabeleland North Provincial chief irrigation engineer Charles Makhula.

“However, Arda indicated that it had no capacity hence it looked for partners and they went through a tendering process and identified a foreign investor who will develop 15 000 hectares of land.  The investor wants to bring in specialists to do the documentation work since the scheme is being expanded from the current 400 hectares to 15 000 hectares. We are now waiting for Arda to start work since they now have an investor.” 

We see renewed urgency to ensure that Bulawayo Kraal gets up. We are confident that this is possible since we already have examples of what the model has achieved.  

The Government must now intensify activities to assist the foreign investor that Eng Makhula refers to, so that work begins and the irrigation scheme gets on the way to what Antelope, Ingwizi and Fair Acres estates are now.  

The people of Binga will be happy to secure jobs at a functional Bulawayo Kraal Irrigation Scheme. Plotholders will be happy too if the new investor injects money to assist them irrigate their individual pieces of land to be able to harvest crops for household consumption and surplus for sale. That way, they will feel genuinely empowered socially and economically.