There is an urgent need to ease the annual variations of an environment where drought and distance from rivers can be mitigated through irrigation. The local chief has donated a plot for the project and there is a well in place that has a verified flow of 7200 Litres/hour (1584 Imp Gal/hour) with a depth of 43 metres (141 feet).
The Chigumukire irrigation project is located on a property gifted by the local chief of approximately 5.5 acres on which the Timotheos Foundation would grow crops. These crops will be used first by the Child Care Centre (CCC) with any surplus being sold to offset the operational costs of the farm.
This project will also serve as a pilot project for potential future expansion where the community could alsogrow their own crops. Historically the village has irrigated through flooding irrigation ditches which will necessitate a change management approach to teaching and monitoring how this project is implemented. To this end, annual operational costs are important to the success of the project. While this is a significant upfront investment, there would be a reduction in the annual operational costs each year of success and the expectation for it to become self sustainable.