Tanzania’s National Irrigation Commission said on Wednesday plans were underway to construct 13 irrigation schemes in the country’s southern highlands breadbasket region of Mbeya, covering 24,550 hectares of land to boost food production.
Raymond Mndolwa, the director general of the National Irrigation Commission, said the 13 irrigation schemes will be constructed during the 2022/2023 financial year that runs from July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023.
Briefing journalists on his tour of the southern highlands regions of Katavi, Rukwa, Songwe and Mbeya where he inspected irrigation farming, Mndolwa said the 13 irrigation schemes will be constructed in Mbeya’s districts of Mbarali, Kyela, and Rungwe.
“It is high time Tanzania lessened dependence on rain-fed agriculture,” said Mndolwa, adding the construction of the irrigation schemes will go in tandem with the renovation of old schemes.
Juma Homera, the Mbeya regional commissioner, pledged full support to the National Irrigation Commission in ensuring success in the construction of the irrigation schemes.