THE CULTIVATION of ginger
for the residents of Myamba Ward in Same District, Kilimanjaro Region has
received a boost after the Government ensured water security for irrigation.
The certainty is based on
the Government's action to implement the Mwamba-Myamba irrigation project,
which benefited 4,000 farmers in the area and will cost Sh1.7 billion.
The funds provided have
involved the construction of canals, installation and covering of pipes.
An officer from the
National Irrigation Commission, Mejason Ayoub, said that the availability of
water is expected to increase the production of ginger, from the current seven
tons per acre to 10 tons per acre after the completion of the project.
"The source of this
project is a challenge that existed before. Water was being lost a lot and
therefore ginger farmers were having problems in irrigation," he said.
Farmers benefiting from
the project with a total of 2,222.5 acres of irrigation, according to Ayoub,
are from the villages of Kambeni, Goha and Mang'a.
According to Ayoub, the
goal is to ensure that ginger farmers in those villages practice irrigation and
thus increase productivity.
"Our hope is to
ensure that even small farmers benefit from agricultural activities by doing
productive farming," he said.
Msifuni Mjema, a ginger
farmer in the ward, has said that there has come a time when farming activities
of the crop remained an uncertain activity.
"At the moment we
have high hopes because we have started to benefit from this irrigation scheme
project," he explained.
Another ginger farmer in
the ward, Esther Mashika said the presence of the project has increased the
production of the crop for farmers.
The project, which began
to be implemented in February last year, is expected to increase the irrigation
area from the current 1,500 hectares to 2,222.5.