By MOFFAT CHAZINGWA –
GOVERNMENT has launched the resettlement action plan for Musakashi Irrigation Scheme in Mufulira which is expected to create more than 14, 000 jobs.
The Musakashi scheme is a US$115 million World Bank-funded Irrigation Development Support Project (IDSP) being implemented in three sites namely, Lusitu in Chirundu, Mwomboshi in Chisamba, and Musakashi in Mufulira.
President Edgar Lungu recently commissioned the Mwomboshi scheme and was expected to commission the Musakashi scheme.
Agriculture Minister Given Lubinda on Thursday said, when he launched the resettlement action plan involving construction of 113 housing units for the affected families, that Government was committed to the development of irrigation agriculture.
Mr Lubinda said Government, through the ministry of Agriculture, had continued to develop irrigation infrastructure in the country that would allow small-scale farmers and others to practise irrigation farming.
This, he said, would not only enable farmers increase their production and productivity, but also serve as an adaptation measure to climate change whose effects were being experienced in the country and the Southern African region.
Mr Lubinda said the implementation of the IDSP Musakashi resettlement action plan was another milestone in the agriculture sector.
“The IDSP is a $115 million World Bank supported programme whose objective is to increase productivity and value addition through the provision of bulk water infrastructure,” Mr Lubinda said.
He said the resettlement action plan entailed the construction of  457 housing units in all the three sites, which would benefit all the households to be relocated from the current location to appropriate areas within the irrigation schemes.
Mr Lubinda said the Musakashi irrigation scheme would host commercial, medium and small-scale farmers and would contribute a total of 2,000 hectares of land for irrigation.
The minister said Government had put in place a comprehensive support scheme for the beneficiaries in Musakashi.
Musakashi chairperson Stanford Nyendwa praised the  Government for finally implementing the scheme, which had been on the drawing board for the past 20 years.