Story by Tamuka Charakupa
Mhandarume Mushovani Irrigation Scheme of Chimanimani West is the latest to benefit from the Presidential Fisheries Programme after receiving 50 000 fingerlings on Thursday.
The government continues to capacitate rural communities with viable income-generating projects including the Presidential Fisheries Programme.
Mhandarume Mushovani Irrigation Scheme chairperson, Mrs Nyasha Chibviri said, “We are a scheme made of 73 members (21 women & 53 men). We are benefitting a lot through government intervention. After Cyclone Idai our water pipes and water wares were destroyed but the government availed new pipes, reinforcement steel and cement as such we managed to rehabilitate our irrigation. We are being supported with farming inputs and now fingerlings for our fisheries. This means we now have a complete cycle where they complement each other within this facility.”
“As the local leadership, we appreciate these interventions from the government. We are in Region 5 which receives very little rainfall so, with the irrigation, we are growing enough food for our families. This additional benefit through the fisheries projects means broadened income base,” said Chimanimani Ward 3 councillor, Mr Robert Bande.
“As a youthful farmer, I am grateful for the support we are getting from the government. I now have a viable business to conduct and obviously, this will drive us away from drugs and loitering, said a farmer.
The Presidential Fisheries Programme is targeting rural institutions such as irrigation schemes, schools, clinics and interested individual farmers.
The director of Fisheries and Aquaculture Resources Production, Mr Milton Tinashe Makumbe said, “As the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Resettlement, we are rolling out the Presidential Fisheries Input Scheme throughout the country where we are encouraging local institutions and private farmers to set up fish ponds. Mhandarume Mushovani has received 50 000 fingerlings so we are not only supplying but also providing technical support.”
The government is implementing the Rural Development Programme 8.0 model aimed at enhancing rural industrialisation, improving rural livelihoods and ensuring adequate food supply in the country.
