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The United States Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission, Ms Jennifer Savage, (right) Lupane Women’s Development Trust director Mrs Hildegard Mufukare (centre) and an unidentified embassy official after the handover of the grant in Lupane recently

Pamenus Tuso
The lives of women and girls in rural arid Lupane District in Matabeleland North province is set to significantly improve following the United States’ availing of a $100 000 grant to the Lupane Women’s Development Trust for the setting up of a solar driven irrigation scheme.

The grant which was officially handed over to the women by the United States Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission, Ms Jennifer Savage, recently will also be used to fund capacity building in governance and marketing for its members.

Lupane Women, a membership organisation with more than 4 500 people works to improve livelihoods of its members through coordinated enterprises including handcrafts, poultry and vegetable  production.

Before this timely provision of the grant by the US government through the United States African Development Foundation, the organisation has been using expensive diesel-driven pumps to irrigate its two hectare piece of land located about three kilometres from Lupane town.

“We’ve opted for the solar energy because of the high electricity costs. We’ve realised that there’s very limited electricity in the country yet there’s abundant solar power in this region,” said the trust’s director, Mrs Hildegard Mufukare.

She said although solar irrigation is expensive to set up, it becomes cheaper and easy to maintain once the system is established.

“All along we’ve been using a diesel powered engine to pump water for irrigation purposes but it has been costly to us. We’ve been using about 600 litres of diesel per month at a cost of $750. The costs were very high and unsustainable and this is why we had to seek an alternative source of energy,” said Mrs Mufukare.

The director said once the solar system is fully functional, the organisation is set to intensify its horticulture project at the farm.

“As soon as the solar project starts running smoothly, we’re going to train young people mainly girls on horticulture farming. The young people will be trained for six months in areas like soil improvement and other aspects of modern farming,” said Mrs Mufukare.

She said after the training, the organisation is also going to help youths market their produce.

“We believe if successfully implemented, this project is going to improve the income of not only the women but the centre itself as well. This project is definitely going to wean us from donors,” said Mrs Mufukare.

Speaking at the grant’s signing ceremony Ms Savage said the US government would continue to support and promote clean energy programmes in Zimbabwe.

“I’m very excited about this project because it will contribute to efforts by women in Lupane to make a positive economic impact on their immediate families and the community. It’s also my hope that the grant will enable the women to expand their farming activities,” said Ms Savage.

According to Mrs Mufukare, a total of 4 835 people are set to directly benefit from the solar project.

Lupane district agritex officer, Ms Sukoluhle Dube pledged government’s support to the project.

“Agritex will continue to provide the farmers with technical assistance. To us, the project is very important because it’s the first of its kind in the district. We’ll provide the farmers with all the assistance they need,” said Ms Dube.

The United States African Development Foundation (USADF) is an independent US government agency established by congress to support African-owned enterprises which improve lives in disadvantaged and vulnerable communities in Africa.

The agency invests directly in community enterprises, providing seed capital and local technical support to early stage agriculture, energy and youth-led enterprises.