Government support for irrigation schemes to continue

MARONDERA- Government will continue to offer technical expertise to all irrigation
schemes across the country as they are major contributors to the agricultural
sector’s growth.
Agriculture and Rural Development Authority (ARDA) chief executive officer
Tinotenda Mhiko said this on the sidelines of an event that saw President Emmerson
Mnangagwa commission Chivhu Dam which is a major source of water for an
irrigation scheme established in the district.
Community and commercial fishery projects are also benefitting from the dam.
Sixty families that formed a syndicate known as Chivhu Irrigation Scheme (Private)
Limited are already enjoying the fruits of the scheme courtesy of Government
support through ARDA and funding from the Agriculture Finance Corporation (AFC).
This season, the scheme put 105 hectares under winter wheat, with the cereal crop
at early vegetative stage.
“There are 60 families that are benefiting from an irrigation scheme here and they
are both employees and shareholders of the same. They are employed and paid for
their labour during the planting season and the harvesting and taking the crop to the
market, the beneficiaries equally divides and share the net profit among themselves.
“This scheme was registered as a private company and plans to do the same for all
irrigation schemes throughout the country are at an advanced stage. Such schemes
can contribute significantly to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of provinces. As
ARDA, we manage operations of the scheme and we are their agronomist,” Mhiko
said.
The ARDA chief executive officer also challenged farmers to implement the advice
which they get from experts and take farming as a business.
He said: “Farmers must take farming as a business and they must work hard to
make sure that they get maximum returns. For them to achieve this, they have to
religiously implement the advice which is provided to them by experts in various
fields of specialty.”
Chairperson of Chivhu Irrigation Scheme Private Limited, Wilfred Dzimba, who
received a certificate of incorporation from President Mnangagwa said they are
taking farming as a business and gave assurances that they will productively utilise
the land.
“As beneficiaries of this irrigation scheme, we wholeheartedly thank President
Mnangagwa and the Second Republic for uplifting our lives. We are now able to fend
for our families through this scheme. We will continue to use the land productively

and play our part in a way to ensure that Zimbabwe achieves Vision 2030,” said
Dzimba.
Other beneficiaries of the scheme also spoke glowingly about President Mnangagwa
and the Second Republic, saying it is leading to their livelihoods’ transformation.
Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Mashonaland East Provincial Affairs and
Devolution Dr Aplonia Munzverengwi encouraged investors in the tourism industry to
take advantage of Chivhu Dam and bring in various activities that boost tourism in
the district.
“Construction of this dam is bringing development and transforming lives of
Chikomba District. We are celebrating this dam, fish, the irrigation scheme and the
supply of potable water to Chivhu residents. People here have a dam and this will
climate-proof agricultural activities in this area. We will surely have good harvests
and earn an income. Water woes are now a thing of the past as residents will now
access clean water.
“It is now upon investors in the tourism industry to come and identify where they can
fit in so that the dam can be fully utilised while at the same time boosting tourism in
the area,” Dr Munzverengwi said.
She thanked President Mnangagwa for developmental projects that are underway in
Mashonaland East.
“We have evidence of the good works that you are doing in this province. Our roads
are being rehabilitated. There are other projects which include a model school,
Makumimavi, Hwedza Government complex, Marondera flats and many others
which we expect to commission soon,” she said.