Farai Mabeza, Senior Staff Writer 
ACCORDING to official estimates, Zimbabwe has enough water resources to irrigate over 2 million hectares. However, only 216 000 hectares are currently equipped with irrigation infrastructure. Our Senior Staff Writer Farai Mabeza (FM) spoke with the Agriculture ministry’s director for irrigation development, Bezzel Chitsungo, to get insights into the recently established working group and its efforts to meet the government’s targets. Below are excerpts from the interview:
FM: Tell us about the Irrigation Working Group (IWG) and what led to its creation.
BC: IWG is a gathering of stakeholders in the irrigation sector to better coordinate and formulate its activities. It was borne out of a need to optimise the allocation of the key resource constraints in irrigation development: time, money, and information, and ensure that the players in the industry are effectively applying themselves without duplication or repetition of activities and disseminating pertinent information to the sector. IWG brings together government, industry, farmers, academic institutions, NGOs, donors, and banks.
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