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Tendai Chara Features Correspondent

Standing on the edge of the Save River banks, Joshua Ngete of Chibuwe irrigation scheme in Chipinge looks at the flowing water with a mixture of frustration, anger and despair.

The 67-year-old small-scale communal farmer is angry because the river’s changing course has robbed him of his most productive piece of land.
Over the past few years, Ngete watched helplessly as the river snaked its way towards his plot, consuming prime agricultural land in the process.
Since 1957 when the farmers were allocated pieces of land, Ngete’s plot – his only source of livelihood – has been gradually reduced from four hectares to a mere 0,4 acres.

With despair clearly written on his wrinkled face, Ngete viciously scratches his balding head as he ponders how he is going to feed the five grandchildren in his care.
With the size of his most productive land shrinking by the year, the farmer’s future looks bleak.

The year 2000 marked the beginning of Ngete’s misfortunes as Cyclone Eline-induced floods forced the heavily silted river to burst its banks, destroying crops and gobbling chunks of prime agricultural land.

Eight years later, the floods returned to haunt the farmers, once again destroying crops and eating away productive land.
Mr Ngete is one of the 935 small-scale farmers at the Chibuwe/Musikavanhu irrigation scheme that are having sleepless nights because of the changing of course of Save river.

The importance of the irrigation schemes in terms of poverty alleviation and national food security cannot be over-emphasised.
The largest communal irrigation scheme in the country, Chibuwe/ Musikavanhu is a shining example of how communal farmers can commercialise their operations and help eradicate poverty and achieve sustainable development and social equity.

If the river is not rehabilitated, a huge chunk of the 340-hectare Chibuwe irrigation scheme will be parcelled into an island. Chibuwe/Musikavanhu farmers are commercially producing high-value crops such as beans, stockfeed and peas, among other crops.

An irrigated 40-hectare banana plantation is also thriving while 100 hectares have been earmarked for tomato production.
Figures made available by Agritex indicate that the Chibuwe/Musikavanhu farmers have so far officially sold over 1,2 million tonnes of beans. However, middlemen and private buyers purchase the biggest chunk of the farmers’ produce.

Farmers in Chibuwe are capable of producing an average yield of three tonnes of beans per hectare when the national average yield of beans is 0,8 tonnes per hectare.
Although the schemes are located in the drought-prone ecological region 5, local farmers have so far sold 540 tonnes of maize. Despite occupying such a strategic position in terms of agricultural productivity, the future of the Chibuwe/Musikavanhu appears to be bleak.

“My plot used to stretch as far as those boulders and reeds that are near the water course. It has been a painful experience to stand by and watch as the river devoured the most productive piece of my land,” Mr Ngete said.

What used to be a productive piece of land, on which maize, vegetables, peas and beans used to grow in abundance throughout the year, is now a useless, heavily silted part of the river.

To compensate for the lost 0.4 acres, authorities allocated Mr Ngete another piece of land at Chibuwe D Extension.
Sadly for the farmer, water pumps are yet to be installed at Chibuwe D Extension, a factor which forced farmers that were allocated pieces of land in this area to grow drought-resistant rapoko and millet last season.

“The eroded part of my field was the most productive. I don’t mind being moved to another area. However, the truth of the matter is that I will never get a piece of land that will be as productive as the eroded part,” a distraught Mr Ngete said.

Just a stone’s throw from Mr Ngete’s remaining field is a water pump which supplies water to 77 farmers.
Due to erosion, the pump is now less than two metres from the river bank.

If the pump is not removed before the onset of the rainy season, the river’s furious tides will easily sweep the pump away.
Only last year, two water pumps that were on the banks of the river were swept away in nearby Gumira Village.

Another pump which supplies water to Musikavanhu B farmers is now less than 50 metres from the river bank.
With the speed at which the river is advancing towards land, villagers fear that in three years, the pump would have been swept away.

The destruction of the pump will result in 18.4 hectares being left without water, affecting the livelihoods of 22 families.
Several canals and a road that used to link Chibuwe to Musikavanhu were consumed by the river.

Villagers are worried that nothing has so far been done to avert the looming disaster.
Mrs Tsitsi Banga, the Chibuwe Agriculture Extension Officer responsible for irrigation, called upon officials to act fast and avert a looming disaster.

“We are sitting on a time bomb. Authorities are watching as canals, productive land and water pumps are being swept away. Whoever is responsible for the river must act before the onset of the rainy season,” warned Mrs Banga.

The Chibuwe Agritex offices are also in the “danger zone” and have been subjected to flooding in the past.
As a result of the flooding, the offices have since been abandoned.

According to Mr Tapiwa Chagwesha, the Chipinge district agricultural extension officer, 35 hectares of prime land have been rendered useless after canals were destroyed.

“I am not sure how that is going to be done but there is an urgent need for engineers to construct a barrier before it is too late. In the event that the river burst its banks, villagers are going to be marooned on an island.

“Although we are concerned about the loss of arable land, we are also particularly concerned about the loss of life which might occur in the near future,” Mr Chagwesha said.

Mr Tawanda Mupambi of the Lower Save Sub Catchment Council, attributed the changing of the river’s course at Chibuwe to the pressure being exerted on the river by the Turwi River, a tributary.

“The Turwi discharges into Save at a right angle. Since the Turwi has its source on a higher ground, it exerts so much pressure, causing flooding,” Mr Mupambi said.
The Lower Save Sub Catchment Council monitors the river and issues water permits.

According to the council, if steps are not taken to alter the course of the river, a huge chunk of the 340-hectare Chibuwe irrigation scheme will, in the near future, be carved into an island.

Mr Washington Chimo, a member of a committee that was set up to oversee the rehabilitation of the Musikavanhu irrigation scheme said the community, was ready to assist anyone who might be interested in saving the irrigation scheme.

“As a community, we are doing everything that we can to avoid a possible human disaster. We are always available for any rehabilitation efforts which might be instituted,

The remaining part of the road that connects the Musikavanhu and Chibuwe irrigation schemes will be washed away once the rains fall.
Across the world, rivers are known to change their courses, rendering communities homeless and damaging agricultural fields.

In India, entire villages in the foothills of Arunachal Pradesh and upper Assam have disappeared under water in the last few decades.
Online sources attributed this development to climate change, which causes rivers to migrate from their route.

It is said that rivers can change courses for up to two kilometres.
Apart from the loss of livelihoods, Chibuwe farmers are living in fear of a humanitarian disaster which might be precipitated by the changing of the river’s course.