ELLEN MLAMBO
MIRROR REPORTER

MASVINGO – A delegation from the Government of Zimbabwe and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) carried out a tour of two Green Climate Fund (GCF) irrigation projects in Masvingo Rural and Chivi Districts on Wednesday to discuss and document progress and challenges faced by the farmers.
The toured projects are the 46-hectare Zvinyaningwe Irrigation Scheme in Masvingo Rural and the 156-hectare Bwanya Irrigation Scheme in Chivi which are under the Building Climate Resilience of Vulnerable Agricultural Livelihoods in Southern Zimbabwe Programme.
The tour which was led by Pylaia Chembe who is the GCF Communications Officer had a total of six delegates including officials from the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement.

The delegation met farmers at the schemes and discussed and documented progress and challenges.
The two schemes which were established in 2013 and 2023 are part of a US$47, 8 million Climate Resilience programme whose objective is to assist developing countries in adaptation and mitigation practices to counter climate change.
The programme is funded by the Green Climate Fund, UNDP and the Zimbabwe Government.
There are similar programmes in Manicaland and Mat South to support vulnerable communities, in particular women against negative effects of climate change.
All in all, 2,3 million villagers from 137 wards in Zimbabwe will benefit from the Climate Resilience project.
Chembe said the projects promote accessibility of irrigation, water and other related resources to vulnerable communities.
At Zvinyaningwe, which has 88 members land has already been cleared and a floating pontoon to draw water from Muzhwi Dam has been installed. The delegation was told that the project is to start with the planting of 2 hectares of paprika.
One part of the scheme has been fenced.
At Bwanya Irrigation, 3 center pivots have been erected and they have installed a sprinkler system to be used for irrigating the other part of the scheme. The 72 hectares under centre pivots has also been cleared and water pipes covering the whole scheme have been installed.
Green Climate Fund is a Fund established within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change as an operating entity of the financial mechanism to assist developing countries in adaptation and mitigation practices to counter climate change.
The project will run for seven years from 2020-2027 with UNDP being the fund manager.
Zvinyaningwe Irrigation Management Committee (IMC) chairperson Farai Tiugari Tafirenyika Mazivisa expressed the community’s joy over the project and support that the villagers are getting from UNDP, GCF and the Government.
Zvinyaningwe IMC vice secretary Sikatele Flavian said they have high expectations of seeing the project transforming their standards of living and uplifting their families and the community at large.
“We have been trained on mitigating climate induced drought by GCF. We received a lot of support from the project funders and we commend that. Our plea is that they complete fencing so that we don’t loose our crops to wild animals when we start ploughing,” said Christine Mavhika, chairperson of the Zvinyaningwe Irrigation Scheme Grievances Committee.
The Agritex Extension Officer for Zvinyaningwe Irrigation Scheme, Vonai Hove said they are training farmers in resource allocation, mapping and crafting of seasonal calendars.
Bwanya Irrigation Scheme chairperson Ekem Tinago said their scheme which has 156 hectares comprises of 300 farmers with 215 being males and 85 females. The delegation was told that the project is to start with the planting of maize in October.