The Sunday News
Mesabe Ncube Business Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Farmers’ Union has approached a number of companies involved in borehole drilling to offer easy terms to farmers in Matabeleland region to mitigate against water shortages in some parts especially during the summer season when water levels from traditional sources dwindle.In an interview, the ZFU vice-president, Mr Abdul Nyathi, also said they had approached Government to resuscitate old irrigation schemes so that farmers could start benefiting by embarking on all-year-round agriculture.
“As a union we are in the process of approaching companies that drill boreholes to offer easy terms for those who can afford to drill boreholes at their own cost,” said Mr Nyathi. “We have also asked the Government to resuscitate old irrigation schemes and farmers should identify them so that the Government can start rehabilitating them.”
Farmers in the region had complained that there was a need for improved support for their ventures especially on availability of inputs and other support infrastructure such as boreholes to supply water for the livestock.
Some of the farmers, who were resettled under the land redistribution programme, told Sunday Business they could produce more if they were supported.
“What we need in our farms are inputs to enable us to produce at full capacity,” said Mr Douglas Ndlovu who owns a plot in Mariposa.
Farmers in the Mariposa area said water was a major problem and this had seen most of them being forced to carry out agriculture activities during the rain season.
They said the area was generally fertile and could sustain many agricultural activities provided there was adequate water.
They also said they needed farming equipment and chemicals.
“Even if the Government has been assisting with things like seeds and fertiliser, their timing is a bit behind,” said Mr Ndlovu.
He added that they practised dry planting and would prefer to access seeds early.
Speaking from his Kezi homestead, where he does market gardening, another farmer Mr Patrick Khumalo said the two irrigation schemes in Maphisa were not enough to sustain all the communities’ projects.
The water problem is not only unique to Matabeleland South as another farmer from Skopo, a village in Nkayi, Matabeleland North, Mr Henry Maseko, complained about the same issue.
“We would be really grateful if Government could set up irrigation schemes because water is a problem in our area,” he said adding that one would be very lucky to drill a borehole and find water without drilling more than 60 metres beneath the surface.
Responding to reports about Matabeleland failing to use loan funds allocated to their region, the farmers said there were too many conditions disqualifying them from accessing the funds.
“If they would just increase the age group that is eligible to access these loans, we are quite certain we would put the loans to good use because we really need the funds,” said Mr Maseko.
Mr Maseko said the project proposals they wrote to access the loans had not yielded anything as they had not been getting any responses.
“We have many projects which need funding and if the loans are availed to us, we will definitely put them to good use.”
