The impact of small scale irrigation projects on food security : the case of Inkosikazi Irrigation Project, instituted by World Vision in Wards 4 and 5, in the Bubi District, Zimbabwe

Abstract

This study provides an overview of the impact of small scale irrigation on food security using the case study of Inkosikazi irrigation scheme in the Bubi District of Zimbabwe. The study discovers a set of political, economical, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors that are holding the district under food insecurity. The communities have been relying on food aid from international NGOs like World Vision, the Catholic Relief Services and Care International. This dependence has further crippled them into more vulnerability and poverty as their productive capabilities cannot be explored. The communities of Wards 4 and 5 established the Inkosikazi irrigation scheme with the assistance of World Vision with the sole objective of improving their nutritional status. Even though the project took six years to complete, it would also cater for improved income levels of the communities. This study assesses the impact of the Inkosikazi irrigation scheme using the activities of 240 irrigation farmers on landholding plots of 0.25ha each. No doubt the establishment of the irrigation scheme has contributed to new life improvement perspectives for a community that was once perceived as vulnerable, poor, fragile, exposed and incapacitated. The project stands out as one of the lasting initiatives to reduce the food trap in the district and indicates similar initiatives can be applied for other communities in Zimbabwe in general for the same reasons.