The intervention by SIRP in Manicaland has brought relief to farmers in Musikavanhu Irrigation Scheme. The provision of fencing material has ensured that farmers are able to grow crops in the scheme all year round.
Mr Marambidze from Musikavanhu Irrigation Scheme in Manicaland said “The intervention by SIRP and IFAD has helped us a lot. We received fencing material from SIRP to fence off our scheme. Had it not been for SIRP, we would not have managed to plant our maize on time. We would have waited for the rains to start falling so that people start looking after their cattle. It was then that we would have planted our maize”.
He added “With the intervention of SIRP, we managed to plant our maize on time. You see this maize, we planted it on the 14th of October and it was not destroyed by cattle. The fence that we got from IFAD was very helpful. We are also grateful for the training that we have received under SIRP. They taught us good agricultural practices and the identification of appropriate seed varieties to plant. We take all that advice and are grateful. We have been fortunate enough to have received seed from SIRP which we planted this season.”
The farmers also said they were assured that their crops would not fail due to lack of water and they were living in harmony. Mr Marambidze said “We are very fortunate to have access to irrigation. Our crops do not fail because we water them all year round. Our lives are better, my family is well fed and my children go to school. I am able to pay their fees without any difficulty. We live together in harmony, we plan and work together here at the irrigation scheme. We are doing well and we employ other people who assist us with the weeding and we pay them.”
Mrs Marambidze added, “We are happy with this development, we hope to improve our homesteads and build new houses. We are grateful for the support we have received.
Another farmer, Joshua Simango of Gumira Village under the same scheme said “We thank IFAD for its assistance. They rehabilitated our canals and gave us fencing material. Cattle were giving us problems here in the scheme, destroying our crops. We no longer sleep in the scheme guarding our crops lie we used to do. We just lock our gates, and go home to sleep after working in the scheme”