Water breaks barriers

Drip irrigation improves the lives of farmers with disabilities in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe’s eastern highlands are renowned for their diverse and abundant fresh produce. In districts like Nyanga, farming families grow a variety of crops all year round for personal consumption and for sale: from maize, potatoes, and sugar beans to leafy vegetables and garlic.

Long plastic pipes lining the district — some stretching for more than 10 kilometers — use gravity to transport water from the mountains down to the village gardens. However, over the last decade, increasing climate-induced water shortages, prolonged dry spells and high temperatures have depleted local water reserves.

To manage this limited resource, farmers in the area access it based on a rationing schedule managed by the local council — but availability is inconsistent. Often during the lean season, there is not enough water to irrigate vegetable plots efficiently and in good time, which leads to moisture stress and poor crop performance.

When water availability is low, it is not uncommon for conflict to develop in villages, as households compete for access. Despite efforts to schedule distribution across all areas, reports of farmers cutting off or diverting the water supply abound.

Less waste, more time

Traditionally, farmers in the district have used flood, drag hose, bucket, and sprinkler systems for irrigation – laborious methods that tend to waste water and require the services of young, able-bodied workers.

For Prudence Nyanguru, a maize farmer in Nyanga who also grows tomatoes, potatoes, cabbages, and sugar beans, the limited number of sprinklers available for her garden meant that she previously had to irrigate manually every other day, alternating between the sprinkler and hose pipe and taking more than five hours to cover her 0.05-hectare plot.

But now, new, affordable garden drip irrigation kits installed by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) are making it easier for farmers like her to manage their limited resources efficiently. They now have more control over application and reduce water waste to a minimum.

“Whereas before I would spend six hours shifting the sprinklers or moving the hose,” said Nyanguru, “I now just switch on the drip and return in about two or three hours to turn off the lines.”

Ease and efficiency for all

Maize experimental plot with drip irrigation.
Maize experimental plot with drip irrigation.

CIMMYT researchers supported the use of small pumps for irrigation after noticing that farmers would not reap the full benefits of mechanization if they continued to depend exclusively on erratic rainfall. After the rainy season, two-wheel tractors and other implements were often parked and unused for the rest of the year.

This new form of irrigation has brought many benefits to rural farming communities in Nyanga, from reducing costs to supporting weed management. The reduction of labor intensity has been particularly important to strengthen the resilience of those who may have previously struggled to withstand and recover from stresses like water scarcity.

Of the 30 farmers who received CIMMYT drip kits in 2020, at least five had previously experienced limitations to full participation in farming activities as a result of physical barriers, access challenges and strenuous irrigation methods. The new irrigation kit was intentionally designed with the needs of people with disabilities in mind.

For 37-year-old Simon Makanza, for example, his physical disability made accessing and carrying water to use in his homestead extremely difficult.
“I used to walk to a well about 500 meters away to fetch water using a bucket,” he explained. “This was challenging given my condition and by the time I finished, I would be exhausted and unable to do any other work.”

The installation of the drip kit in Makanza’s garden has removed physical barriers, transforming the way he works. He can now operate the pump and drip-line switches with minimal effort, and no longer grapples with uneven pathways to fetch water, or wells and pumps that are heavy for him to operate.

The families of people with disabilities are also benefiting from the advantages of the drip systems. “I don’t spend all day in the field like I used to,” said George Nyamakanga, whose brother Barnabas has a psychosocial disability. “Now, I have enough time to assist and care for my brother while producing enough to feed our family of eight.”

The ease of operation and efficiency of the drip kits also enables elderly farmers to engage in garden activities where they might previously have struggled, with direct benefits for the nutrition and incomes of the wider community.

Partners and funders

This work was carried out under the Program for Growth and Resilience (PROGRESS) consortium, managed by the Zimbabwe Resilience Building Fund (ZRBF) with support from the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement, the European Union (EU), the Embassy of Sweden, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) of the United Kingdom.

© 2021 International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center
We would like to thank all funders who supported this research through their contributions to the CGIAR Trust Fund.

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CREDITS

Editors-in-chief
Marcia MacNeil, Rodrigo Ordóñez
Project coordination
Leslie Domínguez, Emma Orchardson
Art directors
Alfonso Cortés, Nancy Valtierra
Layout and design
Nancy Valtierra
Web design
Ricardo López
Graphics and illustrations
Marcelo Ortiz, Eliot Sánchez, Nancy Valtierra
Writers and editors
Nima Chodon, Madeline Dahm, Leslie Domínguez, Alison Doody, Wasim Iftikar, G. Michael Listman, Marcia MacNeil, Steven McCutcheon, Marta Millere, Emma Orchardson
Contributors
T.S. Amjath Babu, Frederic Baudron, Hans Braun, Shiela Chikulo, Olaf Erenstein, Velu Govindan, M.L. Jat, Timothy Krupnik, Sylvanus Odjo, B.M. Prasanna, Harminder S. Sidhu, Jelle Van Loon
Photography
Francisco Alarcón, Alfonso Cortés, Wasim Iftikar, Peter Lowe, Ranak Martin, S. Mojumder/Drik, Matthew O'Leary, Love Kumar Singh/BISA, F. Sipalla, Dhruba Thapa/NARC, Szefei Wong/Dreamstime, CIMMYT Archives
Video
Silvia Rico
ISSN
0188-9214
Correct citation
CIMMYT. 2021. Resilience. Renewal. Transition. CIMMYT Annual Report 2020. CDMX, Mexico: CIMMYT.
AGROVOC descriptors:
Maize; Wheat; Plant breeding; Genetic resources; Innovation adoption; Plant biotechnology; Seed production; Food security; Sustainability; Research policies; Economic analysis; Cropping systems; Agricultural research; Organization of research; Developing countries. Additional Keywords: CIMMYT. AGRIS category codes: A50 Agricultural Research; A01 Agriculture– General Aspects. Dewey decimal classification: 630

© International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), 2021. All rights reserved. The designations employed in the presentation of materials in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of CIMMYT or its contributory organizations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city, or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. CIMMYT encourages fair use of this material. Proper citation is requested.

ACRONYMS

ADB
Asian Development Bank
AGG
Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat
ACIAR
Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research
BBS
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics
BIOFOCS
Bioactive food components
BISA
Borlaug Institute in South Asia
CCAFS
CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security
CIAT
International Center for Tropical Agriculture
CIMMYT
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center
CMGRL
CIMMYT Maize Genetic Resource Lines
C02e
Carbon dioxide equivalent
CSISA
Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia
CtEH
Crops to End Hunger
EIAR
Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research
EiB
CGIAR Excellence in Breeding Platform
EMT
Executive Management Team
EU
European Union
FAO
United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization
FACASI
Farm Power and Conservation Agriculture for Sustainable Intensification
FCDO
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office of the United Kingdom
FHB
Fusarium head blight
IAAA
Innovative Applications in Analytics Award
ICAR
Indian Council of Agricultural Research
ICARDA
International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas
IFPRI
International Food Policy Research Institute
IIASA
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
IITA
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture
IRD
Institut de Recherche pour le Développement
IRRI
International Rice Research Institute
ITDA
Integrated Tribal Development Agency
JAAS
Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences
KALRO
Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organization
KPI
Key performance indicators
MAIZE
CGIAR Research Program on Maize
N20
Nitrous oxide
NARC
Nepal Agricultural Research Council
NARS
National Agricultural Research Systems
ORMAS
Odisha Rural Development and Marketing Society
PAU
Punjab Agricultural University
PROGRESS
Program for Growth and Resilience
SADER
Mexico's Secretariat of Agriculture and Rural Development (Secretaría de Agricultura y Desarrollo Rural)
SDGs
Sustainable Development Goals
SeeD
Seeds of Discovery
STMA
Stress Tolerant Maize for Africa
ZBRF
Zimbabwe Resilience Building Fund
UN
United Nations
UNDP
United Nations Development Programme
USAID
United States Agency for International Development
WFP
United Nations World Food Programme
WHEAT 
CGIAR Research Program on Wheat
$
Unless otherwise indicated, all amounts are expressed in U.S. dollars

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About CIMMYT

CIMMYT – the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center – is the global leader in publicly-funded maize and wheat research and related farming systems. Headquartered near Mexico City, CIMMYT works with hundreds of partners throughout the developing world to sustainably increase the productivity of maize and wheat cropping systems, thus improving global food security and reducing poverty. CIMMYT is a member of the CGIAR System and leads the CGIAR Research Programs on Maize and Wheat and the Excellence in Breeding Platform. The Center receives support from national governments, foundations, development banks and other public and private agencies.

For more information, visit www.cimmyt.org.