Women revel in Bubi-Lupane irrigation scheme success

Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday News Reporter
A YEAR after President Mnangagwa commissioned the Bubi-Lupane Irrigation Scheme, the women of Mpofu village in Lupane, Matebeleland North are reveling in the success of a project that has enabled them to achieve self-sustenance and financial independence while allowing them a chance to contribute to the country’s overall food security.

President Mnangagwa commissioned the project, which is sustained by water from the Bubi-Lupane Dam, on 25 September last year, with the scheme’s integrated business model replicated countrywide since then.

The scheme’s success comes as farmers in Matabeleland North have increased their wheat hectarage from last year’s 950 hectares to about 3 000 hectares as the province moves towards enhancing the country’s food security and attainment of a US$8,2 billion agriculture economy in line with Vision 2030.

Food insecurity is a global threat affecting almost every nation with Zimbabwe not spared. The global food crisis has been triggered mainly by prolonged droughts due to climate change, the Covid-19 pandemic and the on-going Russia-Ukraine conflict, which has affected the global food supply chain.

Ukraine contributed 30 percent worldwide supply of the wheat. Following the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the Government took a bold step to increase wheat farming and expects to produce a record high harvest of 380 000 tonnes this year since the 1960s when Zimbabwe planted its first wheat crop.

The country requires about 360 000 tonnes of wheat annually and will have a surplus of the crop, thanks to a well-coordinated programme by Government and private sector players.

Success on the Bubi-Lupane Irrigation scheme has come despite operations being disrupted intermittently by the theft of copper cables. According to the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC), between January and May there have been a total of eight cases targeting Lupane, a development that crippled operations in various institutions.
Speaking to Sunday News, one of the farmers on the scheme, Ms Shirley Nkomo said that the scheme had alleviated the problem of unemployment for the women of Nkomo village.

“Before we got on this scheme, it was a struggle and we would do without a lot of things. However, the help that government has brought to us has been great because in truth we were really not doing anything and we would spend months idle. We are very happy because even when we cry now, we know we can turn to this as source of income,” she said.

Ms Nkomo said despite some setbacks, the success of the scheme overshadowed any challenges that they faced.
“Of course, we still have some problems, for example, the pivots might break down or we run out of water but even with those problems faced, we are still able to have something to fall back on and make sure that our children are at least always fed during tough times.

This is different from a few years back when we were heavily reliant on our children who, at times, also don’t have anything and find themselves under great pressure because they don’t want to appear as if they can’t help their parents,” she said.
Another farmer, Ms Sikhulile Moyo said that in addition to the economic relief that the scheme had brought, it had also enhanced their quality of life as they did not have to go the extra mile to make ends meet.

“It is also good for our health because it comes as a great stress reliever to us because putting food on the table was a constant headache for many of us. Now, at least when you wake up in the morning you know where you’re going and you are a person who is dignified in our community.

We have our timetables and we all work to a schedule. Some of us come at 5AM to chase away the birds then we work until the afternoon while some of us in the committee cannot just leave even after our work is done because we are expected to be the last to leave the scheme. It does not matter what time that we came here, whenever the people leave is when we also disperse,” she said.

Ms Moyo said the scheme had gone a long way in restoring the dignity of the women of Mpofu village.
“In the past, at a time like this, we would just be sitting around doing nothing because we just didn’t have a plan. Right now, things have turned for the better because at least we can even afford to do things for our children something we couldn’t do in the past because we really had nothing concrete.

“We are also able to buy building material and make our homes better and some people might laugh at this but it has restored our dignity because we are now even shy to go and ask for anything from our neighbours. We are free to live our lives and we attribute this to this scheme which has now enabled us to call ourselves genuine farmers,” she said.

However, Ms Moyo said that women were eager to acquire their own equipment, as outsourcing was costly and impacted on their profit margins. In future, we would like to get things like tractors so we don’t have to rely on hired tractors. I think our profits would shoot up if we got equipment to do things for ourselves because I think we can say something that might be a disadvantage for us is hiring things like tractors and combine harvesters.

Another farmer, Ms Siphathisiwe Makhuwe, said that the scheme had been useful in bringing up gender parity in the area, as women were no longer at the mercy of the men in their lives.

“As women, it’s difficult to show how much this scheme has changed our lives because finally in our lives, we even have our own bank accounts and bank cards. This is something that we never used to have but instead, we would only see it from the men in the community. I can now withdraw my own money and use it the way I see fit.

“As it is,I have bought eleven bags of cement and roofing material for construction of my own home. I want to build a four roomed urban style home and this scheme is helping me achieve that. It has changed our community a lot because even the men now respect us because they recognise that as women, we are now people of our own means who can do things on their own.

I can even now afford to buy nice smelling perfume and go to town,” she said. Such projects are testimony that the Second Republic under President Mnangagwa has been able to come up with people centred policies despite the illegal economic sanctions that the country is under.