Abstract:
African governments have ambitious plans to expand irrigated
agriculture, though existing smallholder schemes have largely
failed to use land and water sustainably or become profitable. Six
government-owned irrigation schemes in Mozambique, Tanzania
and Zimbabwe were assessed to identify common policy barriers
and opportunities for higher productivity among smallholder
farmers. Issues like insecure land tenure systems, unclear institutional
arrangements and poor access to markets have contributed to limited
profitability. Reform of currently insecure land tenure, strengthening
farmer organizations and reforming policies are recommended so that
governments step back from scheme management and foster market
linkages to enable more profitable irrigated agriculture
