The ManicaPost
Samuel Kadungure
Senior Reporter
A GREEN revolution beckons for the arid Makoni South after the installation of nine centre pivots at Romsley Irrigation Scheme, and the completion of the pipeline network to unleash its agricultural potential after decades of declining productivity due to climate change and shortage of water to enhance production.
A total of 24 state-of-the-art centre pivots will be installed, making it the first irrigation facility to be propelled by perhaps the most significant mechanical innovation in agriculture since the replacement of draught power by tractors.
Centre pivot irrigation systems are the most popular sprinkler irrigation systems in the world because of their high efficiency, high uniformity, ability to irrigate uneven terrain, and low capital, maintenance and management costs.
The systems move through the field by electrically powered tractor wheels.
Rehabilitation of the 500-hectare scheme is part of the Second Republic’s vision to unleash the productivity of small-scale farmers to achieve food security, provide jobs, reduce poverty and establish the agricultural sector as an engine for rural industrialisation.
The weir wall nearing completion
It is being rehabilitated under the Smallholder Irrigation Revitalisation Programme (SIRP), a seven-year programme funded by International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) and Government, which contributes to the resilience of smallholder farming communities.
Its goal is to reduce vulnerability of smallholder farmers to food and nutrition insecurity, climate change and economic shocks.
About 533 beneficiaries are expected to contribute labour towards the project, with an overall investment of US$5 million.
The US$5 million has been invested in the vital infrastructure, new inputs and innovative technologies to improve productivity, reduce poverty, increase domestic food security and exports to world markets.
Provincial Irrigation Engineer, Engineer Tendai Chimunhu told The Manica Post on Wednesday that three contracts were running concurrently, covering the weir construction, canal rehabilitation and centre pivots installation.
“Three contracts are running concurrently to cover the weir (abstraction system) at Mucheke River which is almost complete. The weir contractor, Comhold Services, on December 1, 2022 was awarded another contract to work on the 18-kilometre canal, so they are continuing from the weir to the canal. Rehabilitation of the canal should ordinarily take nine months, but we are pushing for an earlier completion to put winter cropping under irrigation.
“The other contractor, Tensor Systems Pvt Ltd, is installing the 24-centre pivots. So far they have finished installing nine on land covering 54ha, and the other 15-centre pivots are being procured from South Africa. The irrigation network adding up to 23km that lead to the centre pivots has already been completed.
Excavation of conveyance canal in progress
“Due to the scope of the work, the canal has so far been excavated for about eight kilometres, which covers Bloc One with 65ha, and by mid-January it should be accessing water. We will then excavate the next 12km for Bloc Two (194ha) and then the remainder for Bloc Three (231ha),” said Engineer Chimunhu.
Engineer Chimunhu said the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) has also installed an eight kilometre power-line and currently mobilising transformers for the six pumping points.
“REA has already put a power-line pending mobilisation and installation of transformers at the pumping stations covering the adjacent Chigora-Mavhezha communal areas; Bloc 1A, B, C, D and E.
“Farmers are currently doing dryland cropping, and the centre pivots are being installed at identified swathes of land. The crop will not be disturbed by the installations,” said Eng Chimunhu.
To ensure sustainability, Government introduced a new model where modern technology is installed and managed centrally, with farmers operating as a unit on a commercial basis.
The beneficiaries will be hand-held by the Agriculture and Rural Development Authority (ARDA), which will second a business manager who will come up with a business plan that will be followed by the farmers over a period of five years after which they are expected to manage their affairs as an independent agribusiness entity.
This presents an improved management model unlike in the past where schemes beneficiaries would utilise land as individuals with a beneficiary in charge of a specific piece of land, which has seen many being unsustainable and eventually collapsing.
The scheme is earmarked for high-value horticultural crops, grains and oil crops.
“There will be no individual parcelling of land as the scheme will follow the Vision 2030 accelerator model. The irrigation facility will operate as a company where farmers will be paid a monthly wage for coming to work, and they will share a profit at the end of the season. They will be under the management of ARDA,” he said.
Some farmers representatives have already been taken for a look-and-learn exercise at Bubi-Lupane Irrigation Scheme in Matabeleland North which is operating under the same model.
President Mnangagwa launched the Bubi-Lupane Irrigation Scheme late last year as a pilot project for an integrated business model to be replicated across all provinces as part of the national food security strategy whereby the farmers partner ARDA in a well-managed operation and receive dividends plus some of the crop for home consumption.
ARDA chief executive officer, Mr Tinotenda Mhiko said involvement of communities in irrigation programmes speaks to the authority’s aim of rural development in line with the national vision.
ARDA is replicating the Bubi-Lupane Irrigation Scheme at another 450 irrigation schemes across the country with the aim of alleviating poverty.
