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Transforming smallholder irrigation into profitable and self-sustaining systems in southern Africa

OAR@ICRISAT

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Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/10966/
https://www.iwra.org/smart-water-management-case-study-report/
 
Title Transforming smallholder irrigation into profitable and self-sustaining systems in southern Africa
 
Creator Bjornlund, H
Parry, K
Pittock, J
Stirzaker, R
Van Rooyen, A F
Moyo, M
Mdemu, M
de Sousa, W
Cheveia, E
Munguambe, P
Kimaro, E
Kissoly, L
Chilundo, M
Zuo, A
Ramshaw, P
 
Subject Irrigation
Water Resources
Africa
ICT
 
Description Small-scale communal irrigation schemes in Africa have not realised returns on investment.
Critical to this failure is that funders, designers and managers of these schemes have not
recognized them as complex socio-ecological systems with a diversity of constraints. These
schemes are often under-performing and characterized by a subsistence orientation, which
is compounded by poor market integration, low capacity to invest in crop production, low
yields, difficulties paying for water, or lack of willingness to participate in system maintenance.
The end result is unsustainable utilization of resources, failed infrastructure, inefficient use of
water and land and increased conflict over access to these resources.
Conventional irrigation scheme development has focused on ‘hard’ technologies to improve the
functionality and efficiency of infrastructure and/or irrigation application technologies. However,
hard technology improvements on their own have failed to deliver sustainable schemes and
improve the livelihoods of irrigation farmers (Inocencio et al., 2007): broken and decaying infrastructure
is just one element of an underperforming system. While technologies that are more
efficient may help improve yield, they will not necessarily improve profitability. A great many irrigation
schemes are trapped in a negative cycle of infrastructure provision, unprofitable farming,
lack of investment in maintenance, infrastructure degradation leading to donors subsidizing
infrastructure rehabilitation (Pittock & Stirzaker, 2014; Bjornlund et al., 2017)...
 
Publisher K-water and the International Water Resources Association (IWRA)
 
Date 2018
 
Type Monograph
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
Rights —
 
Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/10966/1/SWM-report-final-web.pdf
Bjornlund, H and Parry, K and Pittock, J and Stirzaker, R and Van Rooyen, A F and Moyo, M and Mdemu, M and de Sousa, W and Cheveia, E and Munguambe, P and Kimaro, E and Kissoly, L and Chilundo, M and Zuo, A and Ramshaw, P (2018) Transforming smallholder irrigation into profitable and self-sustaining systems in southern Africa. Technical Report. K-water and the International Water Resources Association (IWRA).