Engineering

The Engineering Division of the Ministry of Food Production is responsible for the following areas:

Access Roads

The objective of the access road section is to rehabilitate and maintain roads used by farmers to access their farmlands. In some cases these roads are impassible by motor vehicles. This programme ensures that farmers have easy and efficient access to move fertilizer, pesticides, planting materials, etc. and also enables them to transport their produce from farm to market.

Water Management

The Water Management Section seeks to identify and make available to the farmers at various statelands projects, suitable irrigation water while also providing some measure of flood control.

Soil Lab

The Soil Laboratory is involved in soil investigations and materials testing which is an essential preliminary step in the conduct of all civil engineering works. The purposes of such investigations are:

• To assess the general suitability of the site for the proposed works.
• To enable the engineers of Engineering Division to prepare appropriate designs.
• To foresee and prevent problems which may arise during construction due to ground and other local conditions.
• To perform on-going relevant field tests during the construction phase to achieve the specifications/quality of works required by Engineering Division.

Surveys

The primary role of the Survey Section is to provide technical assistance to the Access Roads and Soil and Water Section. This technical assistance may include:

• Topograpical surveys state agricultural lands for the purpose of pond design and construction.
• Topographical surveys of roads.
• Assisting the Soil Laboratory with positioning their test holes on maps which show their position in relation to the project area.
• Monitoring of levels for Road Construction thereby ensuring that the various thicknesses for the sub-base, base and sealing layers as detailed in the contract document are executed on site by the contractors.
• Engineering levels on irrigation channels in order to provide data to determine the drainage flow and capacity of channels for design of pumps and sluice gates.

Administration – Role and Function

To provide administrative Accounting and Clerical support to the Directorate and
the Heads of Section of Engineering Division, in managing the Division’s Human Resources, Finances and Goods and Services.

Operations & Maintenance

This section is made of four sub-sections, Central Workshop, Facilities, Maintenance and Pumps. The role and functions are as follows:

• To provide repair and maintenance services to all Ministry vehicles and equipment.
• To provide irrigation and drainage services to all farmers.
• To provide transportation services to all Divisions in the Ministry of Food Production.
• To provide repair and maintenance services to buildings and facilities in the Engineering Division and other Divisions.