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Research Highlights CPWF Project Report CPWF Project Report The Challenge of Integrated Water Resource Management for Improved Rural Livelihoods: Managing Risk, Mitigating Drought and Improving Water Productivity in the Water Scarce Limpopo Basin Project Number 17 Bongani Ncube, Emmanuel Manzungu, David Love, Manuel Magombeyi, Bekithemba Gumbo, Keretia Lupankwa WaterNet, PO Box MP600, Harare, Zimbabwe for submission to the March, 2010 Page | 1 Contents CPWF Project Report Acknowledgements This paper is an output of the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food Project ‘‘Integrated Water Resource Management for Improved Rural Livelihoods: Managing risk, mitigating drought and improving water productivity in the water scarce Limpopo Basin’’, led by WaterNet, with additional funding provided by the International Foundation for Science (Grants W4029-1 and S/4596-1), FSP Echel Eau, CGIAR System-wide Program on Collective Action and Property Rights (CAPRi), RELMA-in-ICRAF and matching (contributed) funds from the research partners. The opinions and results presented in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the donors or participating institutions. Secondary biophysical data (from outside the field study sites) were kindly provided by the governments of Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Project Partners: Program Preface: The Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF) contributes to efforts of the international community to ensure global diversions of water to agriculture are maintained at the level of the year 2000. It is a multi-institutional research initiative that aims to increase the resilience of social and ecological systems through better water management for food production. Through its broad partnerships, it conducts research that leads to impact on the poor and to policy change. The CPWF conducts action-oriented research in nine river basins in Africa, Asia and Latin America, focusing on crop water productivity, fisheries and aquatic ecosystems, community arrangements for sharing water, integrated river basin management, and institutions and policies for successful implementation of developments in the water-food-environment nexus. Project Preface: The Challenge of Integrated Water Resource Management for Improved Rural Livelihoods: Managing Risk, Mitigating Drought and Improving Water Productivity in the Water Scarce Limpopo Basin: Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is a systems approach to water management, based on the principle of managing the full water cycle. It is required, not only to balance water for food and nature, but also to unlock paths to sustainable development. A global hotspot area in terms of water for food and improved livelihoods is in the poverty stricken rural areas of water scarce semi-arid tropics, such as in the Limpopo basin. The improvement in resilience that the IWRM approach can impart to rural livelihood systems has been shown by a series of case studies in the Limpopo Basin. CPWF Project Report series: Each report in the CPWF Project Report series is reviewed by an independent research supervisor and the CPWF Secretariat, under the oversight of the Associate Director. The views expressed in these reports are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food. Reports may be copied freely and cited with due acknowledgment. Before taking any action based on the information in this publication, readers are advised to seek expert professional, scientific and technical advice. Page | 2 Contents CPWF Project Report Citation: Ncube, B., Manzungu, E., Love, D., Magombeyi, M., Gumbo, B. and K. Lupankwa. 2010. The Challenge of Integrated Water Resource Management for Improved Rural Livelihoods: Managing Risk, Mitigating Drought and Improving Water Productivity in the Water Scarce Limpopo Basin. CPWF Project Number 17: CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food Project Report series. www.waterandfood.org . Page | 3 Contents CPWF Project Report CONTENTS A: INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................11 1 General Introduction .................................................................................11 2 Agriculture and Land Management Challenges ..........................................12 3 Water Resources Management Challenges ................................................13 3.1 Rainfall and Evaporation............................................................................13 3.2 Surface Water Availability .........................................................................13 3.3 Hydrogeology ............................................................................................15 3.4 Water Chemistry........................................................................................15 4 Socio-economic context of the Limpopo basin ...........................................18 4.1 Population .................................................................................................18 4.2 Socio-economic constraints and opportunities for agricultural production 19 4.2.1 South Africa .......................................................................................... 19 4.2.2 Mozambique.......................................................................................... 20 4.2.3 Zimbabwe............................................................................................. 21 5 Conclusions ...............................................................................................22 B: PROJECT OBJECTIVES................................................................................23 1 Objective 1: Adoption and adaptation of water management practices among smallholder farmers that reduce risk, and which, together with integrated farm systems management (addressing particularly soil fertility and crop management) improve farm/household income and water productivity. .23 1.1 Introduction ..............................................................................................23 1.2 Conservation Agriculture ...........................................................................23 1.2.1 Zimbabwe............................................................................................. 23 1.2.1.1 Methods......................................................................................... 23 1.2.1.2 Results and Discussion..................................................................... 23 1.2.1.3 Conclusions .................................................................................... 26 1.2.2 Mozambique.......................................................................................... 27 1.2.2.1 Methods......................................................................................... 27 1.2.2.2 Results and Discussion..................................................................... 27 1.2.2.3 Conclusions .................................................................................... 27 1.3 Rainwater Harvesting ................................................................................27 1.3.1 General Studies ..................................................................................... 27 1.3.1.1 Potential impact of RWH on crop yields .............................................. 28 1.3.1.2 Assessment of upstream-downstream interactions of rainwater harvesting. ..................................................................................................... 28 1.3.2 Rainwater Harvesting Studies – Four Studies in Zimbabwe.......................... 29 Page | 4 Contents CPWF Project Report 1.3.2.1 Methods......................................................................................... 29 1.3.2.2 Results and discussion ..................................................................... 30 1.3.2.3 Conclusions .................................................................................... 33 1.3.3 Rainwater Harvesting Studies - South Africa.............................................. 34 1.3.3.1 Methods......................................................................................... 34 1.3.3.2 Results and discussion ..................................................................... 35 1.3.3.3 Conclusions .................................................................................... 37 1.3.4 Mozambique.......................................................................................... 37 1.3.4.1 Methods......................................................................................... 37 1.3.4.2 Results and Discussion..................................................................... 38 1.3.4.3 Conclusions .................................................................................... 38 1.4 Supplemental Irrigation Using Blue Water ................................................38 1.4.1 Low Head Drip Irrigation systems – Zimbabwe .......................................... 39 1.4.2 Supplemental Irrigation studies - South Africa ........................................... 41 1.4.2.1 Methods......................................................................................... 41 1.4.2.2 Results and discussions.................................................................... 42 1.4.2.3 Conclusions and recommendations .................................................... 47 1.5 Salinity Studies - Mozambique...................................................................47