Drip irrigation transforming Chivi Communal farmers

by Johnson Siamachira and Thembinkosi Nyathi

A Household Nutrition Gardens Drip Irrigation Project being run by communal farmers in Chivi District, Masvingo, is giving them access to vegetables and other crops.

The aim of the project is to reduce malnutrition and enable small-holder farmers generate income through market gardening.

It is being implemented by ITDGPractical Action Southern Africa with support from the Linkages for the Economic Advancement for the Disadvantaged (LEAD). The project demonstrates the positive impact of affordable technology on food security and nutrition among smallholder farmers. LEAD is a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) project. Participants of the initiative are the community of Berejena's ward 19, in the vast communal area of Chivi.

“We are excited about the project,” says Ulita Madusise, a beneficiary of the project. She is among the many villagers in the area engaged in the drip kit irrigation project.

Madusise hails the technological interventions. She says: “Because of the project, nutritional standards have improved and we will be slowly moving away from poverty.”

The pilot irrigation technology has been adopted for the smallholder farmers in Chivi. It has several advantages: less water and labour requirements; high quality of produce and that it frees time for other chores. For example, one can fill up water tanks and do some other work whilst drip irrigation is taking place for a period of up to 45 minutes.

Drip irrigation allows water to flow through a filter into special drip pipes with holes located at different spacings. Water is then discharged through the holes directly into the soil and the plants through a special slow release technology.

Smallholder farmers will grow three cycles of crops, including at least one cycle of vegetable crops during winter and an early maize or bean crop that can be harvested in December.

This type of irrigation by smallholder farmers aims at reducing rural poverty and enhances food security at both the household and community level.

Farmers in Zimbabwe often see irrigation as a major strategy to increase vegetable production on their limited lands.

A glaring need is for agricultural technologies that are land and labour saving, to ensure sound environmental conservation. They should also be economically profitable but, socially acceptable to the communal farmers.

In addition, linkages between research and extension services must be strong so that new technologies generated from research stations to improve food production can be successfully transferred to farmers' land.

Most communal areas in Zimbabwe have poor soils, low and erratic rainfall, and fall largely into land classification regions Four and Five which is suitable for semi-extensive livestock production. Chivi District falls under this category. The average annual rainfall in the district is 530 mm. In every five years, drought occurs for at least three years.

At a field day held in Chivi in November last year, farmers welcomed the technology. “The project is useful. If it were not for the easy to follow technology, I won't be having all this produce,” said Madusise, whose homestead the field event was held. Her garden had a variety of vegetables , including tomatoes, beans, pumpkins, rape, onions and maize.

At the same function, ITDGPractical Action Southern Africa's Drip Irrigation Supervisor, Naison Mupfiga, emphasised the need for smallholder farmers to be self-reliant.