Thupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
While drought-prone Matabeleland South has turned to Government-sponsored irrigation schemes, stray elephants and  natural disasters like hailstorms have not been kind to them. They have actually become a big challenge.

One of the affected is Shashe Irrigation Scheme, 115km west of Beitbridge town and host to 80 farmers who produce 1 000 tonnes of oranges a year with a ready market at the Schweppes-run Beitbridge Juice Plant. But a storm last November felled 23 electricity poles and damaged infrastructure.

On the other hand, elephants continue to stray from Shashe National Park.

At full capacity, the 92,5 hectares produce at least 1 000 tonnes of oranges per season giving each farmer an average income of $30 000 from the sale of oranges. Each plot has 60 trees. The farmers care for their trees with technical support and capacity building from a development organisation, Cesvi.

The Government and its partners have been working on a number of initiatives to revive irrigation-based farming and this saw the European Union pouring $1,5 million into the Shashe citrus projects.

However, despite its massive potential for villagers, the scheme, which draws water from Shashe River, has been plagued by power and water shortages.

This follows a disaster on November 14 last year, when strong winds left a trail of destruction in Ward 8 which felled electricity poles and damaged key infrastructure including a clinic, homesteads and shops.

Since then, the citrus farmers have endured the agony of having to fork out $80 000 monthly for fuel for generators to pump water to irrigate the orange trees.

According to the project’s agronomist, Mr Godman Moyo, farmers need at least 120 litres of diesel to irrigate the project for 16 hours daily, mainly during the night.

“About 23 poles fell down last year and the delays are affecting operations here. We are now relying on diesel-powered engines,” he said. “In the wake of zero power supply, we are likely to lose 40 to 50 percent of our targeted yield of 1 000 tonnes. The situation is bad and as we go forward we are looking at adopting renewable energy to beat the power challenges.”

A distraught plot-holder, who is also a member of the irrigation management committee, Ms Bonang Muleya, said; “This was our hope as a community, but now we face a bleak future especially women who carry the bulk of social problems. Besides earning ang income from these projects we also get stockfeeds for our cattle.

“Some plot-holders have started pulling out of the project because of the sad state of affairs. Around 2012 there were 200 plot-holders now we are down to 180,” she said.

Another plot-holder, Ms Sibaziso Dube, said they were now looking at mobilising resources to install solar-powered irrigation pumps.

“This is our livelihood. We are calling on Zesa to come to our rescue. It is heart-breaking to see such huge resources going to waste,” she said.