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Tawanda Mangoma Chiredzi
Lowveld sugar producer Tongaat Hulett Zimbabwe and Malilangwe Conservation Trust have expressed their willingness to help in the rehabilitation of the mothballed Chilonga Irrigation Scheme to boost food security in the arid southern Chiredzi area.

The two organisations will take part in the rehabilitation of the scheme as part of their social responsibility programmes.

Tongaat and Malilangwe have a long-running relationship in social responsibility and a few years ago they joined forces to spruce up Buffalo Range Airport in Chiredzi.

Their plan to help in the Chilonga scheme revival comes as Chiredzi Rural District Council has since initiated moves to resuscitate it by dispatching earthmoving equipment to desilt Runde River for the irrigation scheme to get a reliable water source.

Malilangwe Conservation Trust representative Mr Tendai Nhunzvi said they wanted the Chilonga community to resume irrigation farming to improve food security.

He said plot holders at the scheme needed to be equipped to produce crops on a commercial scale as it was no longer sustainable to produce crops for subsistence purposes only considering high operational costs of running such a big irrigation scheme.

“From what I have learnt, the river (Runde)’s course would require yearly scooping using an excavator and that will be expensive for the community if they are not operating commercially,” he said.

“We can scoop the river for the community now, but will they be able to do that on their own in the long run? I think it is prudent that the community be engaged towards coming up with a sustainable operating model that would see them produce crops for them to be able to foot their electricity bill and repair canals, among other things.”

Chiredzi District assistant development coordinator Mr Gift Machukele said his office was determined to make sure the Chilonga community started realising revenue from the irrigation scheme.

“This scheme has over 250 hectares and used to directly benefit more than 300 households who were plot holders,” he said. “For the past 12 years, when production was down, the community suffered severely and that is what we want to end.

“We want to make sure that all our irrigation schemes are functional to ease dependence on food handouts.”

A team of engineers who recently toured the irrigation scheme said establishment of the Chilonga Bridge causeway was the major cause of the diversion of Runde River.

Mr Machukele said there was need to address streambank cultivation and gully reclamation along the river.