US$20m irrigation fund: Irrigation schemes adopt block concept 

Source: US$20m irrigation fund: Irrigation schemes adopt block concept  | Herald (Business)

The Bubi irrigation scheme.

Edgar Vhera Agriculture Specialist Writer

THE rural industrialisation programme recently got its wheels greased following the Government’s announcement of a US$20 million Smallholder Irrigation Infrastructure Development Fund (SIIDF) for the revitalisation of selected irrigation schemes being run under the block concept.

Under the model, beneficiary members will cede their individual units to form a large unit and they will be employed in the new unit as workers getting salaries and are shareholders getting dividends at the end of each year. They will also provide labour at the irrigation scheme while Agriculture and Rural Development Authority (ARDA) provides technical expertise and management.

Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Minister Dr Anxious Masuka commented on the programme at the launch of the US$20 million SIIDF in Harare last week saying:

“Though smallholder irrigation presents the biggest opportunity to fight climate change, small unviable units of 0, 1ha do not present a business case for investors and are not sustainable. The Government saw it fit to bring in an expert resident scheme manager as well as bring in the concept of block farming.

“The advantage of operating as a single unit under one management rests in controlled production, efficient use of inputs, access to controlled input and output market, employment creation and ownership of the scheme.”

Minister Masuku observed that agricultural development would power rural industrialisation and vice versa with rural development catalysing the attainment of Vision 2030.

The Government has since chosen the Bubi-Lupane scheme model to spearhead the rural industrialisation programme and this will be replicated at the other identified 18 irrigation schemes in the country’s eight rural provinces.

Minister Masuka commended the unveiling of the fund saying it was a milestone in the transformation of a sector – small-holder irrigation that had been neglected for a very long time.

Vision 2030, the National Development Strategy NDS1 (2021-2025) and Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Strategy are being operationalised through the Rural Development 8, 0 with smallholder irrigation rehabilitation at the centre.

The Minister revealed that smallholder irrigation schemes had been collapsing after operating for relatively short periods of life averaging four to five years, hence the coming in of Government to rehabilitate them.

“The collapse was a result of governance issues on the 450 irrigation schemes covering 26 000ha with the Government now putting in place an irrigation management committee to run the schemes. Currently half of the irrigation schemes are down. The Vision 2030 accelerator model envisages governance overhaul where experts are brought in to manage the schemes,” continued Minister Masuku.

The challenge with individual small plots remains that of production of different crop that mature at diverse times with uneven water use efficiency and difficulties in pest and disease management. No financial institution would like to associate with such a scheme.

“Now these 18 irrigation schemes have been linked with AFC Holdings for financial inclusion and are bankable,” pointed out Minister Masuka.

Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube indicated that the main objective of the fund was to ensure food and nutrition self sufficiency to vulnerable smallholder rural farmers in Zimbabwe.

Under the National Development Strategy 1 (2021-2025), Government is committed to ensure that there is food and nutrition security in the country. This will be achieved through improved food self-sufficiency and retaining the regional breadbasket status, increased food self-sufficiency from the 2020 level of 45 percent to over 100 percent and reducing food insecurity from a high of 59 percent recorded in 2020 to less than 10 percent by 2025.

“The SIIDF will be disbursed through the National Budget starting in January 2023. A total of 18 smallholder irrigation schemes covering about 2 714ha with about 4 500 households will benefit from the facility funded from the country’s allocated US$958 million by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The SIIDF is not a revolving but a direct disbursement fund between the implementing ministries necessitating the signing of the memorandum of understanding (MOU). It is expected to go a long way in climate-proofing agriculture production. The schemes will provide direct employment to more than 20 000 people,” said Prof Ncube.

To ensure the sustenance of the schemes, the Agricultural Marketing Authority (AMA) will be involved in establishing input and output markets.

Enjoyed this post? Share it!