Enhancing Livelihoods in Limpopo: Agricultural Water Interventions

1. Limpopo River Basin Focal Project Improving Livelihoods by Improving Water Productivity, Access and Use Doug Merrey 2 September 2008 FANRPAN Regional Dialogue, Lilongwe

2. Outline • Limpopo Basin • Project Goals and Structure • The Team Partners • Approach • Preliminary Findings—Opportunities for Interventions

4. Limpopo Basin Overview • Area: 412,938 km2 Population: 14 million • Percentage urban: 43 Percentage rural: 57 • Percentage of population below poverty line: 56% • Mean annual rainfall: 200-1,200 mm (average 530 mm) • Climate: Ranges from tropical dry savanna and hot dry steppe to warm and cool temperate • Contribution of agriculture to GDP in the basin: 6.5% • Net irrigated area: 244,000 ha Land use: Crops, 234,000 ha; pasture, 1.78 million ha; forestry, 455,000 ha • Multiple water uses: mining, urban, industry, tourism • Institutional arrangement for managing water: Limpopo River Basin Commission [to be ratified] • Environmental conservation areas: 2 Ramsar sites, important game parks, coastal areas

5. The Team-1 • FANRPAN and ARC-SA joint venture • IWMI and GWP-SA* regional partners • GWP and FANRPAN co-lead stakeholder consultations *Global Water Partnership-Southern Africa

6. The Team-2 • National universities: Botswana, Eduardo Mondlane (UEM, Mozambique), Pretoria, Zimbabwe and Malawi • Mozambique Institute of Agricultural Research (IIAM) Team is large and diverse, but highly experienced and professional complemented by students

7. Project Goals • To identify agricultural water interventions whose implementation will reduce poverty and enhance food, health, and environmental security in the Limpopo Basin and beyond • To identify gaps in knowledge about agricultural water management options in the basin requiring further research

8. Work Packages (WP) & Lead Institutions • WP 1 Water and Poverty- U. Malawi • WP 2 Water Availability and Access- ARC • WP 3 Water Productivity- IWMI • WP 4 Institutional Analysis- FANRPAN Sec. • WP 5 Interventions Packages- FANRPAN Sec. • WP 6 Knowledge Management- ARC

9. Research Approach • Make use of existing data bases • Build on outputs from CPWF and other on-going research projects • Use students strategically to fill gaps, provide analytical support

10. Strategic interventions for the basin • Identify possible intervention packages • Test through consultations with key stakeholders(managed jointly by GWP and FANRPAN) • Assess through case studies Stakeholder Consultation seen as central to success

11. A Methodological Innovation: The Intervention Matrix

12. Example: Application of the Intervention Matrix But RWH works only under certain conditions

13. The “Black Hole” of Limpopo Basin

14. Limpopo “Black Hole” • From Kevin Scott, leader of water availability work package • Serious Implications: • Water going in does not come out—no outflow (Mozambique take notice!) • Limited options for productive use of water—need irrigation but not much water available • Rainwater harvesting probably not appropriate in the Black Hole! • Would a massive upstream dam enable regulated year-round flows downstream? • One option under investigation

15. Huge Irrigation Potential in Mozambique • Massingir Dam—Lower Limpopo irrigation potential is +/- 90,000 ha • Chókwe Irrigation Scheme largest in Mozambique: rice, sugar cane, maize, vegetables, etc. • Complex history, victim of colonial exploitation and impacts of civil war • Presently low productivity, under-use, poverty Chókwe Main Canal

16. Team Visit to Chókwe • Recent team visit and stakeholder consultation demonstrated that getting policies, input and output markets, support systems, and institutional framework right would make very high agricultural productivity and poverty reduction possible • Government now encouraging capital-intensive multi-national investments • What is potential for supporting a prosperous smallholder-based agriculture?