Maravi

(HERALD) Province finds 54 000ha of potential irrigable land

Province finds 54 000ha of potential irrigable land
Masvingo Bureau

THE Masvingo Provincial Irrigation Development Committee has identified 54 000 hectares of potential irrigable land as it moves to enhance food security in the drought-prone province. The identified hectarage would add to the nearly 4 000ha currently under irrigation in the province. Masvingo is among provinces with the highest dam density in the country but has been hit by intermittent droughts, raising calls for a radical shift to irrigation-fed agriculture.

This led to the establishment of a provincial irrigation development committee to spearhead irrigation development in the province. Masvingo Provincial Governor and Resident Minister Cde Willard Chiwewe, who is also the co-ordinator of the irrigation committee, said the province had the potential to put about 54 000ha under irrigation.

Cde Chiwewe said Masvingo could become the breadbasket of Zimbabwe if its irrigation potential was fully harnessed through utilising existing water bodies, rehabilitating existing irrigation schemes and taking into account those dams that were under construction.

"The province has the potential to become a food basket of the country if the available water is committed towards irrigation farming. To date, about 3 800 ha are under irrigation in the province excluding the sugar estates in the Lowveld.

"There is unexploited irrigation potential of about 54 000ha constituted by over 10 000ha from existing under-utilised dams, 3 500ha from rehabilitation and expansion of existing schemes, 25 000ha from Tokwe-Murkosi Dam and over 14 000ha from dams under planning," said Cde Chiwewe. Construction of the giant Tokwe-Murkosi Dam in Chivi has been stalled by insufficient funding and Government is courting the private sector for a partnership that would see the project being completed.

Once completed, the arid Chivi District and parts of Masvingo District would be turned into greenbelts.

Cde Chiwewe said the need to establish and rely on irrigation schemes was more critical to Masvingo as the province had comparative advantages of having fertile soils, large water bodies and favourable climatic conditions.

Several dams and irrigation schemes have been rehabilitated over the past few years in Masvingo under the thrust of the provincial irrigation development committee, whose primary objective is to fully utilise Masvingo’s irrigation potential to enhance food security.

The Masvingo Irrigation Development Committee was formed some years ago at the behest of President Mugabe to spearhead irrigation development by fully identifying and utilising the province’s untapped water resources.

Labels: IRRIGATION, IRRIGATION DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEES., MASVINGO, ZIMBABWE

posted by MrK @ 5:44 AM