Abstract
This article focuses on irrigation agriculture as a critical adaptation strategy to climate change and population pressure in Africa. Smallholder irrigation schemes have been prioritised as a rural development model by many developing countries in the past five decades. However, the majority of the irrigation schemes have remained unsustainable and contributed very little towards the attainment of food security and poverty alleviation for the farmers. The study therefore unravels the underlying factors affecting the sustainability of smallholder irrigation schemes in Zimbabwe. A mixed research method, with a combination of the questionnaire survey, focus group discussion and key informant interviews.. The findings underscored farmers’ productivity levels and input utilisation pattern as largely subsistence farmers who were unable to create sufficient demand to sustain a viable input supply chain. The study also demonstrates that fertilizers and hybrid seeds were not affordable for the majority of the farmers. The input supply market was not responsive to the spatial, temporal and package needs of farmers. The exclusion of farmers from the financial market allayed any hopes of breaking the underproduction cycles in the schemes. Thus, the study recommends that all the intervention in the input supply chain focus on transferring the purchasing power to poor farmers. Key words: Input market, Market for the Poor (M4P), smallholder, irrigation scheme
Highlights
Irrigation agriculture enables human beings to be independent of the vagaries of natural rainfall and be able to grow crops in arid and semi-arid regions
This study focuses mainly on the input supply chain because access to agricultural inputs, especially fertilizers and improved seed is a fundamental variable in increasing productivity level in irrigation agriculture
This study explores the challenges smallholder irrigation farmers face in accessing agricultural inputs and their effective usage, in order to enable development planners to design contextually relevant interventions
Summary
Irrigation agriculture enables human beings to be independent of the vagaries of natural rainfall and be able to grow crops in arid and semi-arid regions. Irrigated land constitutes 19% of the land under cultivation and supplies 40% of the world‟s food requirements (Wiltshire et al, 2013). Irrigation is seen as a possible adaptation strategy for agriculture to climate change and population pressure especially in Africa where food security is highly fragile and disrupted (Wiltshire et al, 2013; Maliwichi et al, 2012). The need for agricultural intensification through irrigation is rapidly increasing as the population relying on farming has long surpassed the carrying capacity of many dry land agricultural systems in Africa (Kortenhorst et al, 2002).
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
