Vimbanayi Project

Project Specifications

Chipinge district, Manicaland Province (-21.027238 E, 32.198039 S)

Cash crops: chili pepper, tomatoes, maize and sugar beans

October 2025

33ha

The irrigation scheme faced myriad of challenges which include;

a 200mm dia AC pipe mainline which was not adequate to deliver the required flow rate to the irrigation area,
high susceptibility to climatic hazards such as floods, droughts and cyclones
leakages on the main pipeline from the pump station to the distribution chamber,
the pump station was entirely dependent on power supply from the national grid which experiences frequent power cuts,
high operational costs in the form of electricity tariffs.

Forster irrigation provided the following to achieve climate proofing and revitalisation activities:

✓ Installation of 62kw solar field to power pumps and lessen the electricity bill

✓ Installation of an abstraction system in the Save river which taps water from both the surface and sub-surface flows

✓ Utilised the existing idle PVC pipe to increase the amount of water delivered to the reservoir tanks

✓ Installation of a night storage dam – 2 reservoirs to allow for storage of water and water abstraction to continue during periods of no irrigation

✓ Expansion of the irrigation area by 10ha in order to increase the sizes of the plot holdings for the farmers and supplying irrigation siphons

✓ Repairing the existing canals and sluice gates to reduce water losses

✓ Installation of a storm-water drainage system to collect excess runoff for safe disposal into the river

✓ Training of the IMC and beneficiaries on improved water management and irrigation scheduling