17 December 2014, Harare – The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) today signed a four year, USD6.3 million (6m.Swiss Francs) programme to rehabilitate eight smallholder irrigation schemes with total land coverage of 700 hectares in Masvingo Province.

“This agreement is a major boost for a broader national irrigation rehabilitation framework that has been designed in partnership with a wide range of stakeholders. It aims at increasing public investment in irrigation as well as providing a conducive policy environment to attract further investment from the private sector”, said David Phiri, FAO Subregional Coordinator for Southern Africa and representative to Zimbabwe.

The project will be implemented in collaboration with the Government of Zimbabwe’s Department of Mechanisation and Irrigation Development targeting Irrigation schemes not functional or not operating at full capacity due to dilapidated infrastructure, and other socio-economic factors. This investment will support and equip the technical and extension services with tools, survey equipment and other material means to effectively serve the smallholder irrigators. Irrigation engineers, technicians and extension workers will receive training in participatory irrigation planning, development, monitoring and evaluation. Schemes that have a high potential to be fully viable and sustainable over time will be prioritized.

His Excellency, Ambassador Luciano Lavizzari, Switzerland’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe said: “Food security and agriculture is one of the development priorities of Switzerland in Zimbabwe. Initially, SDC’s work was in response to the dire food insecurity experienced in the country in 2009 by initiating a project to distribute agricultural inputs in the form of seeds and fertilizers to the poor and vulnerable in the Zaka district of Masvingo province. One of the lessons we learned from the implementation of this project was that rain fed agriculture is difficult in the dry areas of the country, for example Masvingo where we worked – A difficulty, which is likely to increase, given the expected impact of climate change in Zimbabwe. This has brought SDC to focus on irrigated agriculture. And because one of SDC objective is poverty reduction our attention went quite naturally to smallholder irrigation.

Farmers in the driving seat

Smallholder irrigation plays a vital role in the sustenance of rural livelihoods through reducing food insecurity in drier areas. This is particularly true in Zimbabwe where 70 percent of the population lives in rural areas that are characterized by erratic rainfall patterns.

Irrigation is critical for sustainable crop production in Zimbabwe particularly in the drier regions like Masvingo.  “To enhance sustainability, the project will also pay attention to aspects of the value chain to ensure that smallholder irrigators are capacitated to produce high value crops, are linked to viable markets and are organized to be able to operate and maintain their schemes profitable”, said Ambassador Lavizzari.

The project will concentrate its efforts in areas that have been found to be too dry for successful crop production without irrigation, as well as those that are susceptible to periodic seasonal droughts, prolonged mid-season dry spells and unreliable starts of the rainy season.  “What is so innovative about this project is that local communities are in the driving seat and are involved in every single step of the project. Their capacities will also be developed so they can sustainably manage all the irrigation operations by themselves” said Phiri.

This programme will also compliment the efforts of the Governement of Zimbabwe at policy development, dissemination and coordination of the irrigation subsector.  Minister for Agriculture, Mechanization and Irrigation Development Joseph Made, who witnessed the signing ceremony, said the project, which is the first, after a long time, where a development partner is dealing directly with government, was very timeous. He observed that the project would contribute directly to the meeting the objectives of the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socioeconomic Transformation (ZimAsset) and would also capacitate the civil service  as personnel from relevant government departments would  be directly involved.

Such novel programmes give farmers in Zimbabwe the opportunity to boost productivity, improve their nutrition and increase incomes at the household level. With this SDC contribution, the wider USD36 million national irrigation framework targeting the rehabilitation of approximately 4 000 hectares by 2018, is now 40 percent funded. The European Union has already contributed USD8.2 million towards irrigation projects that are already ongoing. 

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Flickr album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/faosouthernafrica/sets/72157649393188998/

Contacts:

Caroline Hungwe | Communication Officer | FAO Harare, Zimbabwe | Email: [email protected]

Leonard Makombe | Assistant Communication Officer | FAO Harare, Zimbabwe | Email: Leonard. [email protected]