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George Maponga Masvingo Bureau
Masvingo Province’s largest irrigation scheme, Mushandike, is under threat from the proliferation of illegal settlers who are occupying land earmarked for its expansion. The illegal settlers are posing a serious threat to water canals that supply various parts of the scheme.

The 800-hectare Mushandike Irrigation Scheme used to be a major source of green produce and horticultural products for the estimated 100 000 residents of Masvingo city. Thousands of villagers from Charumbira communal lands and the adjacent Chivi district also rely on the scheme for their food supplies. Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Deputy Minister (Cropping) Davis Marapira on Tuesday blamed traditional leaders for promoting the destruction of the irrigation scheme.

“We are really concerned at the runaway proliferation of illegal settlements on irrigable land at Mushandike, a situation that has caused the disappearance of land reserved for grazing, forcing domestic animals such as cattle to forage for food along canals that are under threat of destruction,” he said. Deputy Minister Marapira said investigations had shown that traditional leaders were illegally parcelling out land to land-hungry people in and around the irrigation scheme.

“The future of Mushandike is under threat and plans by Government to revive the once thriving scheme are in disarray because of illegal settlements,” he said. He said his Ministry would soon engage their Lands and Rural Resettlement counterparts to clean up the mess and kick out the illegal settlers.

“The scheme is now a shadow of its former self because most of the irrigable land is being snapped up for the construction of houses, said Deputy Minister Marapira. This is unacceptable and must stop because we are compromising the nation’s food security.” Deputy Minister Marapira urged authorities to identify land unsuitable for agricultural purposes and allocate it to those wishing to build houses. He said the planned expansion of Mushandike to 3 000 hectares by 2023 now hung in the balance because of the sprouting of illegal settlements.

“We are planning to convey water from Muzhwi Dam in Chivi through a canal that will end perennial water problems and also enable the irrigation scheme to be expanded,” said Deputy Minister Marapira. He said the expansion would make Mushandike reclaim its status as the breadbasket of Masvingo province. Recurrent water shortages due to dilapidated canals and heavy siltation in Mushandike Dam have been blamed for choking the once thriving irrigation scheme, which sustains more than 200 plot holders together with their families.

The scheme’s fortunes nose-dived at the turn of the millennium after an influx of illegal settlers in the Mushandike Dam’s catchment area, leaving the scheme with insufficient water supplies after the reservoir had been heavily silted. Government recently announced plans to build a $10 million pipeline to move water from Muzhwi Dam to Mushandike Dam and breathe a new lease of life to the irrigation scheme.