Despite the success discussed above, the irrigation schemes are riddled with a lot of challenges which greatly reduces their effectiveness in ensuring food security, hence institutions like SADC (1997) have dismissed them as economically unviable and of negligible importance on national and household food security. Bjornlund (2004), FAO (1997) and Chibisa et al.
(1997) highlighted some of these challenges affecting small holder irrigation schemes in Zimbabwe. The problems can be grouped into financial constraints, policy related problems, technical issues, governance and management of the schemes, social power relations and environmental challenges.
Irrigation schemes demand high capital outlay in setting, operation and maintenance. The farmers often lack access to credit lines that will enable them to invest into their farming hence their low levels of production and incomes. The situation in Zimbabwe has been exacerbated by the economic decline that has daunted capital accumulation in the last decade. This is also related to the land rights issues in irrigation schemes. Most of the schemes are in communal areas where the farmers have no title to the land hence the land can neither be used as collateral nor be sold by ailing farmers to better farmers. The situation is even made worse by the gender inequality in which men control the land and women have user rights only.
The third set of constraints is on land holding. The above researchers observed that usually farmers are allocated very small pieces of land which makes it difficult to grow beyond subsistence. Most small scale irrigation schemes farmers have between 0.2ha to 0.5ha per farmer which are too small for meaningful production.
Technical issues relate to the design of the irrigation schemes and the ability of the farmers to keep the schemes running. Bjornlund (2004) emphasises on government designing expensive motorised irrigation schemes which are
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costly in terms of energy usage (petrol, diesel and electricity) and in maintenance costs. The farmers lack technical knowhow to maintain some of the schemes and lack the heavy equipment that might be needed as in the case of rehabilitating silted dams. With regards to newly resettled A1 farmers, the irrigation systems on their farms were meant for large scale irrigation hence streamlining them has proven to be a challenge. The lack of technical expertise and practice in catchment management systems has further worsened the situation through reducing availability of water for irrigation due to dam siltation.
In terms of policy and institutional support, the level of support still leaves a lot to be desired. The policy emphasis on irrigation by government is often not matched with the resource allocation to the sector. Institutions put in place to assist the farmers in the supply of agricultural inputs and the marketing of the produce usually fail to assist the farmers timeously. There is also a general lack of decentralized irrigation service companies to give back-up service in rural areas.
The farmers are also affected by poor access to input and output market systems. Makombe and Symbatha (2003:6) emphasise that the success of small holder irrigation is dependent upon the marketing potential of agricultural products. The main buyer of grain in Zimbabwe, the Grain Marketing Board (GMB), fails to pay farmers on time whilst middlemen with instant cash heavily underpay the farmers, especially in remote areas. The situation is further worsened by the dilapidated transport and communication structures in areas away from cities, thereby affecting farmers from accessing input and output markets. The Economic Commission for Africa (2006:4) further accentuates that output markets are also affected by food aid which tends to create a depressing effect on local producer prizes, and acts as a disincentive for farmers to produce more.
Productivity is also hampered by management issues. According to Hanatani and Sato (2012:3), it has widely been recognized that the quality of management, rather than the size of the irrigation system and who owns and controls the system, determines the success or failure of the irrigation system.
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In the government led ones, the lack of effective control over irrigation practices by farmers and the top down approach by Agritex officers, have resulted in the collapse of many irrigation systems. IFAD (2005:6) posits that where communities have not been properly integrated in the scheme from the inception, the schemes tend to lack sustainability as shown in the diagram below.
Figure 2.6 Four key aspects of sustainability and common weaknesses in small scale irrigation schemes (IFAD, 2005)
Location of the Scheme – If an irrigation scheme is located in an area that has poor roads it becomes inaccessible. The poor roads will make it difficult to transport the irrigation products to the markets for sale. The farmers will have difficulty in transporting agricultural inputs which will lead to inadequate supplies for their farming operations. It would also lead to poor catchment area management because the irrigation technicians would find it difficult to move around the project when doing maintenance work.
Social Structures – When little attention is given to local and existing social structures, local community leadership might resist any development and
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block the smooth implementation of the irrigation project. Community participation from the initial stage of the baseline survey to the final implementation of any project has always been key to their development. If not involved, the communities might lobby politicians to block any development.
Study and Design – Before an irrigation project is established, a feasibility study is carried out to determine the suitability of such a project and all the technicalities that go with it are well assessed and designed to the appropriate standard. If the local community input and knowledge is not recognised, and the scheme is not built up from traditional practices, its design might be weak, and, it may collapse in the short-run, finally becoming a threat to sustainability.
On-going Support – An irrigation scheme must be well supported by all stakeholders. If there is poor coordination among stakeholders, constant interference by government structures, poor recognition of external maintenance requirements, poor recognition of local social structures, and staff changes by the organisations managing the implementation; all these factors might threaten the sustainability of the scheme and lead, finally, to collapse.