Challenges of Accessing Water for Agriculture by Emerging Farmers of the Breede-Gouritz Catchment Management Agency
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CHALLENGES OF ACCESSING WATER FOR AGRICULTURE BY EMERGING FARMERS OF THE BREEDE-GOURITZ CATCHMENT MANAGEMENT AGENCY by AWELANI SADIKI Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Environmental Health in the Faculty of Applied Sciences at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology Supervisor: Dr Bongani Ncube District Six August 2020 CPUT copyright information The thesis may not be published either in part (in scholarly, scientific or technical journals), or as a whole (as a monograph), unless permission has been obtained from the University. DECLARATION I, Awelani Sadiki, declare that the contents of this dissertation represent my own unaided work and that the thesis has not previously been submitted for academic examination towards any qualification. Furthermore, it represents my own opinions and not necessarily those of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. 14 August 2020 Signed Date ii ABSTRACT Access to natural resources in South Africa is highly skewed with access to water even wider. The bulk of the water is accessed more by large-scale commercial farmers than historically disadvantaged individuals (including smallholder farmers and emerging farmers). The reform of natural resources including that of water brought developments and implementation of new policies and strategies within the water sector to improve access to water by the smallholder farmers. Licensing water use was supposed to solve the problem of access to water. However, the process has had little impact to date with few licences being released to the smallholder farmers. The study aimed to assess the challenges faced by organisations that support smallholder farmers, specifically the Breede-Gouritz Catchment Management Agency, in allocating water to the smallholder farmers. The study also explored the challenges faced by the smallholder farmers in accessing water through the water user licensing process. A qualitative case study approach was used for data collection. The main objectives of the research were to review the status of the national Water Allocation Reform strategy in terms of the progress of its strategic intent and contribution towards achieving equity in water allocation in South Africa; to review the success of Water Allocation Reform strategy of the Breede-Gouritz Catchment Management Agency in allocating water to smallholder and emerging farmers; to identify organisational capacity challenges that the Breede-Gouritz Catchment Management Agency faces in implementing its Water Allocation Reform strategy through the water use licence process; and also to identify socio-economic capacity challenges that smallholder farmers face in applying for water user licences. The study adopted the Policy Implementation Framework to understand the challenges that the organisations supporting smallholder farmers face in achieving water allocation reform and that which smallholder farmers face when applying for a water user licence. The data was collected through desktop reviews and one-to-one interviews. The data were analysed using Atlas.ti software version 8.1. The results showed that the existing lawful water use continues to privilege previously advantaged commercial farmers. There is a lack of human capacity in organisations supporting smallholders, which leads to limited communication between the organisation and smallholder farmers. The Breede-Gouritz Catchment Management Agency also experiences water scarcity, which limits available water. There is little or no understanding of the water user licence application processes by smallholder farmers. Therefore, there is a need to establish a water allocation unit that deals specifically with water licensing at the Breede-Gouritz Catchment Management Agency to speed up the process and more water should be made available in catchment areas through persuading the existing lawful users to release some of their water. The study further recommends the categorisation of smallholder farmers with different needs to be able to assist them according to their needs. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank: My Lord Jesus Christ who gave me the strength and courage to complete this dissertation. My supervisor, Dr Bongani Ncube for her tireless effort and her guidance to this day. Mr Victor Mngomezulu for taking the time to drive me to the site for collecting the data. My daughter, Baby Hlalala, for her patience while I was away from her, chasing my career. My family, especially my Mom, Mukondeleli, for taking care of my daughter while I was away. The financial assistance of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, the National Research Foundation and the Water Research Commission is acknowledged. Opinions expressed in this dissertation and the conclusions reached are those of the author and are not necessarily attributed to the funders. iv DEDICATION I would like to dedicate this dissertation to my daughter, Baby Hlalala and my mother Mukondeleli Maphiri v TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ..................................................................................................................... ii ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ....................................................................................................... iv DEDICATION ........................................................................................................................ v LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................. viii LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................... viii ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ................................................................................... x CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 1 1.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Background of the research ..................................................................................... 2 1.3 Problem statement ................................................................................................... 3 1.4 Main objective .......................................................................................................... 6 1.4.1 Specific objectives ................................................................................................. 6 1.5 Outline of the dissertation ......................................................................................... 6 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................................... 8 2.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 8 2.2 Policies on access to agricultural water use globally ................................................ 8 2.3 Policies on access to agricultural water use in Africa ............................................. 10 2.4 The history of access to water in South Africa ........................................................ 13 2.5 Approaches to access water in South Africa .......................................................... 13 2.6 The National Water Allocation Reform ................................................................... 14 2.6.1 The perpetuation of the Existing Lawful Water Use .............................................. 15 2.6.2 Insufficient information on validation and verification ............................................ 16 2.6.3 Failure of the compulsory licensing process ......................................................... 17 2.6.4 Lack of policy integration in water institutions ....................................................... 17 2.7 The approach of water allocation at the local level ................................................. 18 2.7.1 The challenges of water allocation reform within organisations ............................ 19 2.7.1.1 Delays in the creation of catchment management agencies ............................ 19 2.7.1.2 Different mandates of institution supporting smallholder farmers ..................... 20 2.7.1.3 Lack of engagement between the established institutions ............................... 20 2.7.1.4 Water scarcity ................................................................................................. 21 2.7.1.5 Lack of capacity............................................................................................... 21 2.8 The status quo of water user license authorisation ................................................. 21 2.8.1 Water allocation tied to the land ........................................................................... 23 2.8.2 General Authorisation to promote access of water ............................................... 23 2.8.3 Smallholder farmers joining water user associations ............................................ 24 2.9 Summary................................................................................................................ 24 vi CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY ............................................... 26 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 26 3.2 Research design ...................................................................................................