Stanslous Roy Ruvengo.
Chivi-Communities in Chivi which live within two kilometres radius of the Bindangombe dam believe that if the dam’s water is utilized well through irrigation projects,that will greatly ease poverty in the drought prone district.
The water can irrigate up to 500 or more hectares of land the whole year.Madungwe,Mhomho,Mufara, Gwitima villages are the nearest beneficiaries.
Bindangombe is the second largest inland dam in Chivi district after Tokwe-Murkosi and the fourth in Masvingo Province after Tokwe-Murkosi, Mutirikwi and Bangala.The dam was built in the 90’s and since then water in the dam has not been used productively.
Chivi is a dry land area and nearly year there is no normal rainfall .Bindangombe dam being the second in the district is under-utilized.
Only four irrigation schemes in the district are in production namely Denge, Banga, Nyamakwe and Nyimai.However they cannot produce the required output that can feed the whole district.
Young villagers from Mufara village who spoke to The News of the South said”We are young as youth we should benefit from the use of water in the long run we are future parents who should be actively involved with farming but due to economic hardships the political leadership is doing nothing and concentrate on personal enrichment nothing done to alleviate poverty”.
Their sentiments were also supported by elderly people who spoke on condition of anonymity “People in this community are worried that the irrigation projects at Bindangombe are long and overdue,politicians use the dam to politick the electorate they promise irrigation projects but nothing has come to fruition yet,they should honour their promises despite irrigation the other benefits to be obtained from this dam,fish are in abundance and if fish farming was done the community would have benefited a lot”
Efforts to get a comment from Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA)and Ministry of Water and Infrastructurural Development were fruitless by the of going to the press.
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