Performance of Smallholder Irrigation Schemes in the Vhembe District of South Africa

Averbeke, W. Van

doi:10.5772/29182

Cited by 10 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…The farmers can make 'profits' from subsistence crops, while cash crops can sometimes expose them to higher financial risks due to high input costs (Ncube 2018) [20] . Remoteness, which reduces access to markets, results in farmers focusing more on producing for own consumption (Van Averbeke, 2012) [28] . The conclusion of the performance of smallholder irrigation schemes has been that the contribution of these schemes to social and economic development of rural communities has been far below expectations (Machete et al, 2004;Tlou et al, 2006;Fanadzo et al, 2009) [19,25,12] .…”

Section: The History and Performance Of Smallholder Irrigation Scheme...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Unfortunately, post 1994, a large number of smallholder irrigation schemes has collapsed while the rest are suffering reduced efficiency due to various reasons (PHI-Bushbuckridge Development Plan, 2016) [24] . Above all, performance of smallholder irrigation schemes in Vhembe District indicated that many of them perform poorly (Van Averbeke, 2012) [28] . In this study, farmer's characteristics and SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis of smallholder irrigation scheme farmers in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa, were examined.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Reasons for the collapse of irrigation schemes in South Africa: A case of Saringwa irrigation scheme in Mpumalanga province, South Africa

TD,

2022

Int. J. Agric. Extension Social Dev.

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The key purpose of introducing smallholder irrigation schemes in the rural areas of South Africa was to increase food production, improve and sustain livelihoods of rural communities. The Saringwa Citrus Estate in Mpumalanga Province was chosen for the study. The main objective of the present study was to identify reasons for the collapse of irrigation schemes. The data was collected through interviews with farmers. The study reveals that irrigation scheme farms are collapsing due to various issues being; high transaction costs (100%), poor communication with key stakeholders (90%), poor-quality produce (80%), lack of title to land (75%), low farming skills (60%) and lack of business plans amongst youth participating in this farming sector. The collapse also contributes to poverty, food insecurity and unemployment due to lack of stable production and income realised from sales. Policies that promote revitalization of irrigation scheme farming that promote production of high-quality produce are recommended for combating the collapse of this farming sector.

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Section: The History and Performance Of Smallholder Irrigation Scheme...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reasons for the collapse of irrigation schemes in South Africa: A case of Saringwa irrigation scheme in Mpumalanga province, South Africa

TD,

2022

Int. J. Agric. Extension Social Dev.

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“…Historically, investment in smallholder irrigation has been one of the national strategies to improve livelihoods by reducing poverty and food insecurity in South Africa, particularly in rural areas. Post-apartheid, part of these investments included transferring management of existing irrigation schemes to farmers, a process called Irrigation Management Transfer (IMT) (Van Averbeke & Mohamed, 2006;Van Averbeke, 2012). In addition to the IMT and revitalising of these schemes, additional irrigation schemes were built to improve livelihoods and quality of life for informal urban settlement dwellers and rural people (Van Averbeke, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Institutional Arrangements and Support Systems for Independent Smallholder Irrigators in the Msinga Local Municipality, South Africa

Dube

2023

S Afr. Jnl. Agric. Ext.

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This article describes the present institutional arrangements for irrigators’ resource access, agricultural support systems accessible to irrigators, and the various constraints irrigators experience. The survey acquired data from 101 snowballed respondents for the quantitative phase of the study. The qualitative phase gathered information from four purposively selected focus group discussions. According to the findings, irrigators commonly gained access to production land through traditional authority (81.2%). Gender was a barrier to land access, where male-headed families had larger land sizes than female-headed ones (t=4.993, p=0.028). Concerning irrigation water, irrigators abstract it wherever they find access, without any institutional arrangement or restriction. The main limitations to irrigators’ water availability were competition and the drying out of the water source, particularly spring water. Government assistance was rare among independent irrigators. Smallholder support services tend to be distributed unevenly among South African smallholders, usually leaving independent irrigators unsupported. Lastly, irrigators experience constraints in their farming that government existing services have the potential to address. Therefore, this study proposes that the government recognize independent irrigators as possible drivers of poverty and food insecurities. The study recommends institutional inclusion and the extension of support systems to independent irrigators.

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Irrigation in Southern Africa: Success or Failure?

Mutiro¹,

Lautze

2015

Irrigation and Drainage

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Despite widespread recognition of the importance of irrigation development in southern Africa, no comprehensive examination exists on the performance of past irrigation schemes in the region. This paper systematically examines existing literature on irrigation schemes in southern Africa in order to: (i) determine the proportion that can be considered successful; and (ii) identify and rank factors that explain variation in performance. The results indicate that some 59% of irrigation schemes in southern Africa can be considered successful. Factors associated with successful performance include: management style, irrigation method, crop mix, type of financier and geography. The levels of success identified through this review validate calls to increase the irrigated area in southern Africa. These results nonetheless highlight opportunities to strengthen the way in which future irrigation schemes are undertaken. In particular, these results may call for increased use of sprinkler irrigation and reduced use of flood irrigation with pumping. The results also suggest more investment could be channelled into schemes focused on maize-vegetable crop rotations and sugar cane, and caution applied to government management of schemes. RÉSUMÉMalgré la reconnaissance générale de l'importance du développement de l'irrigation en Afrique australe, il n'existe aucun examen complet de la performance des systèmes d'irrigation dans cette région. Ce document examine systématiquement la littérature existante sur les systèmes d'irrigation en Afrique australe afin de: (i) de déterminer la proportion qui peut être considéré comme un succès; (ii) identifier les facteurs qui expliquent la variation de la performance. Les résultats indiquent que quelque 59% des systèmes d'irrigation en Afrique australe peut être considéré comme un succès. Les facteurs associés à de bons résultats comprennent: le type de gestion, la méthode d'irrigation, le mélange de cultures, le type de bailleur de fonds et la géographie. Les niveaux de succès identifiés par cette revue valident les appels à augmenter la superficie irriguée en Afrique australe. Ces résultats soulignent néanmoins les possibilités de renforcer les futurs systèmes d'irrigation et insistent sur la façon dont sont entrepris ces renforcements. En particulier, ces résultats peuvent appeler pour une utilisation accrue de l'irrigation par aspersion et à réduire l'utilisation de l'irrigation par submersion avec pompage. Les résultats suggèrent également que davantage d'investissements pourraient être canalisée dans des programmes axés sur la rotation maïs-légumes et sur la canne à sucre, et d'appliquer avec prudence la gestion gouvernementale des systèmes irrigués.

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Performance of Smallholder Irrigation Schemes in the Vhembe District of South Africa

Cited by 10 publications

References 20 publications

Reasons for the collapse of irrigation schemes in South Africa: A case of Saringwa irrigation scheme in Mpumalanga province, South Africa

Reasons for the collapse of irrigation schemes in South Africa: A case of Saringwa irrigation scheme in Mpumalanga province, South Africa

Institutional Arrangements and Support Systems for Independent Smallholder Irrigators in the Msinga Local Municipality, South Africa

Irrigation in Southern Africa: Success or Failure?

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