Govt seeks US$49m for irrigation rehabilitation

LIVINGSTONE MARUFU

The government is seeking US$49m to rehabilitate 10,000 hectares of irrigation infrastructure as part of efforts to mitigate the impact of climate change, which has led to increasingly frequent droughts in recent years.

Authorities have, over the years, embarked on an aggressive drive to expand the area under irrigation as a strategy to reduce the adverse effects of climate change.

Zimbabwe is home to 10,600 water bodies that can be utilised for irrigation. However, only 217,000 hectares of land are currently irrigated, out of a potential two million hectares.

Recently, Professor Obert Jiri, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, said the government has intensified the rehabilitation of irrigation schemes to increase the country’s irrigable area.

“The country is targeting to rehabilitate irrigation schemes that have the capacity to irrigate 40,000 hectares, with the latest rehabilitation requiring an investment of US$49m to bring about 10,000 hectares into production,” Professor Jiri said.

“What we require from the farmers is very minimal as we want them to get organised and recognise farming as a business. On these irrigation schemes, there is no point for farmers to cling on to the 0.1 hectares which they are entitled to, as we have introduced a block system where farmers grow as a block. We need farmers to work together.”

Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union (ZCFU) president, Dr Shadreck Makombe, welcomed the initiative, saying it would go a long way in building resilience against the effects of climate change.

“These are the types of initiatives we want as a country as they will help farmers to produce all year round. These will also guard against frequent droughts that are occurring far too often these years,” Dr Makombe said.

Professor Jiri emphasised that the country should not experience food shortages given the vast water resources at its disposal.

“Zimbabwe can produce 1.8 million tonnes under 350,000 hectares of irrigation. There is a need to increase irrigable hectarage under cereal crops to ensure the country can feed itself at any given time and be able to export in the near future,” he said.

“This is why we are calling on everyone to put our heads together and unlock this 250,000-hectare gap so that we produce enough, come climate change, come El Niño, as we will be producing under irrigation,” Professor Jiri added.

Of the current 217,000 hectares under irrigation, around 46,000 hectares are devoted to sugarcane and other plantation crops. This leaves the country with very limited land available for food crop irrigation, reinforcing the urgent need to develop new irrigation schemes.

To bridge this gap, the government is actively courting investors to come on board and support the development of new irrigation infrastructure, which will help increase the irrigable land from 217,000 hectares to 350,000 hectares.

Professor Jiri also urged the banking sector to play a role in funding irrigation projects, highlighting the reduced risk profile and guaranteed returns associated with irrigated agriculture.

“Banks can come to the party to reduce the risk profile of their loan book by a huge margin, given that they will be funding something they are guaranteed of getting a return from. The irrigation people will also unlock business for banks in a big way, as non-performing loans will be a thing of the past, given the harvest guarantees that irrigation provides,” Professor Jiri explained.

According to Professor Jiri, development partners are also expected to shift their focus from humanitarian assistance to long-term development support, as increased irrigation enhances food security and self-sufficiency.

Authorities have expressed concern that despite Zimbabwe being one of the most water-endowed countries in the region — second only to South Africa — the nation continues to underutilise its water resources.

In its latest report, the Ministry of Lands warned that with the current drought projections, irrigation will have to be undertaken for longer periods. The report also cautioned that any power-induced disruptions would have severe negative impacts on agricultural output, underscoring the need to accelerate investments in solar-powered irrigation systems.