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Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, Gwanda Correspondent
ONLY 60 hectares of land has been utilised this farming season out of an estimated 480 hectares under irrigation schemes in Gwanda.

Speaking during a drought relief committee meeting held in Gwanda recently, Agritex crop officer, Mr Shepherd Ncube said the district has eight major irrigation schemes but only two were operational.

He said the rest of the irrigation schemes were lying idle due to water challenges, power outages and obsolete equipment.

“The district has eight main irrigation schemes; Makwe, Masholomoshe, Guyu Chelesa, Mankonkoni, Rustlers’ Gorge, Sebasa, Sukwi and Tuli-Lushonkwe irrigations schemes, which have a total of 480 hectares combined,” said Mr Ncube.

“At the moment we have 60 hectares of land under maize while the remaining 420 hectares were not planted as farmers operating from the schemes are faced with various challenges. The main challenge is low water levels that supply irrigations, pumps that draw water are old and therefore have constant break downs while some irrigation schemes are experiencing power outages such as Makwe Irrigation.

This has caused the irrigation schemes to remain under utilised,” he said.

On the crop and livestock situation in the district, Mr Ncube said the bulk of the crop was at temporary wilting stage while the state of animals had improved because of rains that were received recently.

He said 25 percent of maize crop that had been planted this rainy season was a write off and that available grazing land was poor. Indications are that pastures would not last up to June in most parts of the district due to erratic rains and the dry spell, said Mr Ncube.

“A majority of wards in the district were badly affected by poor and erratic rains, which led to no meaningful planting taking place especially in November. Most farmers have opted to plant maize crop despite the advice from extension officers for them to plant small grains.

“Challenges faced by farmers include inadequate draught power due to high cost of diesel, poor condition of animals during the start of the season. Late onset of rains and uneven distribution and prolonged dry spells has lead to crop failure and write off in some cases,” he said.

Gwanda Acting District Administrator Mr Judge Dube appealed to various stakeholders to assist in rehabilitating irrigation schemes so they would be fully utilised.

“Our region doesn’t receive enough rainfall therefore irrigation schemes are supposed to address the challenge but they are not performing as expected. We therefore appeal to stakeholders to assist in developing and rehabilitating our irrigations. The challenge faced is that some partners come into the district and assist in setting up irrigations and later hand over the projects to communities to manage.

The farmers, however, have a challenge with management of those irrigations, which eventually become underutilised.

“We appeal to our partners to also train farmers so they can focus on irrigation as a business. Our farmers occupying irrigations are only producing for their own consumption as they are into subsistence farming. It’s alarming that as a district we have all these hectares of land set aside for irrigation but only 60 hectares has been utilised,” he said. — @DubeMatutu.