DOI: 10.36347/sjavs.2016.v03i03.005

Pages: 190-195

Although the establishment of Mlibizi smallholder irrigation scheme was an endeavour to improve food security and livelihoods of the plot holders and communities in Binga district it has remained a pressing issue as a plethora of challenges continue to affect the performance and productivity of the scheme, hence impacting negatively on the general welfare of the farmers who continue to depend on non farming activities such as fishing, hunting and gathering of wild fruits to eke a living. The main purpose of this study was therefore to interrogate challenges crippling the general performance of smallholder irrigation schemes in Zimbabwe’s arid and semi-arid regions, but with particular reference to Mlibizi irrigation scheme in Binga, one of the highly marginalised and impoverished districts of the country. The treatise tries to explore strategies and interventions farmers and stakeholders can adopt to boost smallholder irrigation agricultural productivity; a vehicle for community development and sustainable livelihoods. Although it interrogates the flaws associated with the technological and managerial systems that are coalescing against the objectives of such schemes the study establishes that unavailability of inputs was the main limiting variable, or causation for under performance of most smallholder irrigation schemes in the country. A sample of 60 respondents was purposively drawn from a population of 288 plot holders for the purposes of generating accurate data from rightfully informed participants. The study was grounded in qualitative methodology where data were collected via key informants interviews and questionnaires. Generated responses were analysed using descriptive statistics. Results revealed that though the government is trying to bring normalcy to the smallholder irrigation agriculture by mechanising and advocating for the immediate operationalisation of similar projects to uplift the livelihoods of the people in Binga, still a plethora of challeng