High dependency on rainfed agriculture relegates smallholder farmers to continue facing severe impacts of climate change. In the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Region, climate change is manifested by increased temperatures, floods, dry spells, frequent droughts, and erratic rainfall leading to reduced agricultural productivity and production.
Agriculture remains one of the most significant contributors of climate change, accounting for between 19 and 29% of the total greenhouse gas emissions and at the same time it is also one of the most vulnerable sectors affected by climate change. The sector is estimated to consume about 70% of global freshwater, providing subsistence for circa 2.5 billion people globally who depend upon agriculture for their livelihoods.
As part of the response, the Intra Africa Caribbean and Pacific Global Climate Change Alliance Plus (GCCA+), funded by the European Union (EU), is currently facilitating the establishment of climate-smart irrigation systems in Botswana, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe as a pilot initiative to harness Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) practices for reducing the impacts of climate change in the Region.
GCCA+ is co-implemented by the Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA), SADC Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (SACREEE), Global Water Partnership (GWP) and Southern African Regional Universities Association (SARUA) using the WEF Nexus approach, which integrates water, energy and food security issues.
From the 5th to the 9th of December 2022, CCARDESA conducted technical backstopping support missions to three of the GCCA+ demonstration sites in the SADC Region, namely Habu (in Maun, Botswana), Katapazi (Livingstone, Zambia) and Katima Mulilo in Namibia to assess project implementation stages regarding the climate-smart irrigation systems. The investment includes fencing of irrigation sites, construction of screen houses, installation of drip irrigation infrastructure with boreholes and pumping systems powered by solar panels as renewable energy and installation of water reservoirs.
According to Dr. Barthlomew Chataika, the CCARDESA Lead Officer the project is yielding tangible results with high prospects of making a significant impact amongst the beneficiaries despite experiencing implementation delays. In some sites, such as Habu, the project beneficiaries have started harvesting and selling products from irrigation fields.
"In Habu community, for instance, farmers are now harvesting their produce with the readily available market, but we have noted the need to continue empowering them to own the project and strengthen the association or cooperative so that they should be able to stand on their own beyond this project," said Dr. Chataika.
The Habu scheme has about 65 farmers in the cooperative which was able to produce different crops, including maize and vegetables such as green pepper, tomato, cabbage, watermelon and others. Most of what they are currently harvesting has already been absorbed by the local market as well as by Maun Village, which is one of the main country tourist destinations. Farmers, mostly from the Herero community, are essentially a pastoral community and have unanimously reported being happy given that they were not used to farming and the critical knowledge acquired from the project will reshape their future sources of livelihood.
At Katapazi demonstration site in Zambia, CCARDESA attended the technical handover of the smart climate irrigation facility to the community, which included two boreholes, 30 cubic metre tanks, a drip irrigation structure, solar panel sites, four hectares of fenced land, water sources for human consumption and a drinking point for animals. Farmers had an opportunity to interrogate the investments and recommend amendments before the official handover which is scheduled to take place in the first quarter of 2023. In Katima Mulilo, Namibia, although the project seems to be behind, a borehole and solar panels have been set up, and currently the contractor is working around the clock to deliver what is remaining, including water tanks, fence, and drip irrigation infrastructure.
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After the visits by CCARDESA to project sites and aligned to the fact that Intra-ACP GCCA+ is scheduled to come to an end between April and May 2023, it has been noted and highlighted that subsequent efforts will include the strengthening of ownership among direct beneficiaries as well as capacity building initiatives to ensure sustainability beyond project implementation. The project is expected to strengthen the capacity of SADC Member States to undertake regional and national adaptation and mitigation actions in response to the challenges caused by the effects of global climate change and climate variability.
