HARARE – Zimbabwe launched a $20 million Smallholder Irrigation Infrastructure Development Fund (SIIDF) on Wednesday to revive 18 rural irrigation systems across the country to ensure food and nutrition self-sufficiency.
The facility is financed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from the country’s special drawing rights of $958 million.
Finance and Economic Development minister Mthuli Ncube co-launched the facility with the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Anxious Masuka, during a press conference in Harare on Wednesday.
“We have come together to launch the $20 million Small Irrigation Infrastructure Development Fund (SIIDF).
“As stated in the National Development Strategy 1 (2021-2025), the government is committed to increasing food and nutrition security from 45% to over 100% by 2020 through improved food self-sufficiency and maintaining regional breadbasket status, as well as increasing self-sufficiency and reducing food insecurity from a peak of 59% in 2020 to less than 10% by 2025,” he said.
SIIDF funds will be disbursed through the state budget from January next year for the 18 identified smallholder irrigation schemes spread across the 8 rural provinces of Zimbabwe, excluding the provinces metropolitan areas of Harare and Bulawayo.
“The main objective of the facility is to ensure food and nutritional self-sufficiency for vulnerable smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe.”
A total of 18 small irrigation systems covering approximately 2,714 hectares and approximately 4,500 households will benefit from the installation.
“From these resources, the Treasury Department is targeting vulnerable rural smallholders to fund irrigation infrastructure development,” Ncube said.
On the same occasion, Masuka said the launch of the $20 million SIIDF is another milestone in the development of Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector.
“This is an important step in transforming a sector (small-scale irrigation) that has been neglected for a very long time.
This is in the context of Vision 2030, the National Development Strategy 1 and our dynamic and robust strategy for the transformation of agricultural and food systems.
“The Vision 2030 accelerator model, as we call these life-changing irrigation systems, is enshrined in Rural Development 8.0, a set of eight interventions commonly referred to as presidential programs,” he said.
These programs include the Presidential Climate Resilient Inputs Program (Pfumvudza/Intwasa), the Rural Development Programme, which provides for 35,000 boreholes per village, and the Presidential Poultry Programme.
- News Reporter/ additional report by BH24
