IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ags/afjrde/263632.html

An assessment of socio-economic potential for Rain Water Harvesting (RWH) in semi-arid Bobirwa Sub-district of Eastern Botswana

Author

Listed:
  • Mpatane, O.
  • Kayombo, Benedict
  • Patrick, C.
  • Malope, P.
  • Tapela, M.

Abstract

This study assessed the socio-economic potential of the Rain Water Harvesting (RWH) techniques for crop production in the semi-arid area of Bobirwa Sub-district, Botswana. The main methods used to collect the data were the Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) approaches and researcher-farmer managed field experimentation. The data collected included the constraints to crop production and available ways of conserving soil moisture in the study area. Viability, acceptance and perception of farmers towards RWH technologies in the Sub-district were also assessed. Constraints faced by farmers in arable farming were identified as low and unreliable rainfall, pests and diseases and lack of farm implements (ranked in order of severity). Researcher-farmer managed trials were carried out with various catchment area sizes against a cropped area of 25 m2. Catchment area sizes were 25m2, 50m2, 75m2 and no catchment, resulting in catchment area to cropped area ratios of 1:1, 2:1 3: 1 and 0:1 (a control plot). Randomized Block Design (RBD) with two replicates in each village was used. Soil moisture content results were analyzed using Statistical Analysis Software (SAS Version 9.2), two way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), at 5% level of confidence using Duncan’s comparison method. Gross margins were calculated as the difference between the cost of production and income from the production. Openstat software was used to analyze the gross margins using Scheffes’ comparison at alpha = 0.05. At the end of the trials period, a questionnaire was administered to the selected farmers in order to draw farmer’s perception towards the technology. The results showed that a catchment area to cropped area ratio of 3:1 had significantly higher soil moisture storage (for improved crop growth) compared to 0:1, 1:1 and 2:1 ratios in each village. In the analysis of gross margins, a catchment area to cropped area ratio of 3:1 had a significantly higher gross margin (P= 0.885) of maize compared to 0:1, 1:1 and 2:1. Farmers’ perception interviews showed that farmers had positive views towards the adoption of the RWH technologies. Over 75% of the farmers showed interest towards acceptance and adoption of RWH technologies.

Suggested Citation

  • Mpatane, O. & Kayombo, Benedict & Patrick, C. & Malope, P. & Tapela, M., . "An assessment of socio-economic potential for Rain Water Harvesting (RWH) in semi-arid Bobirwa Sub-district of Eastern Botswana," African Journal of Rural Development (AFJRD), AFrican Journal of Rural Development (AFJRD), vol. 1(01).
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:afjrde:263632
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.263632
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/263632/files/9Mpatane.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/263632/files/9Mpatane.pdf?subformat=pdfa
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.263632?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hatibu, N. & Mutabazi, K. & Senkondo, E.M. & Msangi, A.S.K., 2006. "Economics of rainwater harvesting for crop enterprises in semi-arid areas of East Africa," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 80(1-3), pages 74-86, February.
    2. Fox, P. & Rockstrom, J., 2003. "Supplemental irrigation for dry-spell mitigation of rainfed agriculture in the Sahel," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 29-50, June.
    3. repec:iwt:bosers:h024198 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Singh, Kunwar K. & Kleinhans, Maxwell & Markham, Katherine & Mensah, Foster & BenYishay, Ariel & Adewopo, Julius, 2026. "Investment trends and evaluation gaps in rainwater harvesting in Sub-Saharan African drylands," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 327(C).
    2. Bouma, Jetske A. & Hegde, Seema S. & Lasage, Ralph, 2016. "Assessing the returns to water harvesting: A meta-analysis," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 100-109.
    3. repec:iwt:bosers:h041998 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Andersson, Jafet C.M. & Zehnder, Alexander J.B. & Rockström, Johan & Yang, Hong, 2011. "Potential impacts of water harvesting and ecological sanitation on crop yield, evaporation and river flow regimes in the Thukela River basin, South Africa," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(7), pages 1113-1124, May.
    5. repec:iwt:bosers:h042792 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Reynolds, Travis W. & Anderson, C. Leigh & Slakie, Elysia & Gugerty, Mary Kay, 2015. "How Common Crop Yield Measures Misrepresent Productivity among Smallholder Farmers," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 212485, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    7. Fox, P. & Rockstrom, J. & Barron, J., 2005. "Risk analysis and economic viability of water harvesting for supplemental irrigation in semi-arid Burkina Faso and Kenya," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 83(3), pages 231-250, March.
    8. Sekyi-Annan, Ephraim & Tischbein, Bernhard & Diekkrüger, Bernd & Khamzina, Asia, 2018. "Performance evaluation of reservoir-based irrigation schemes in the Upper East region of Ghana," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 134-145.
    9. Barron, Jennie & Okwach, George, 2005. "Run-off water harvesting for dry spell mitigation in maize (Zea mays L.): results from on-farm research in semi-arid Kenya," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 74(1), pages 1-21, May.
    10. Adekalu, K.O. & Balogun, J.A. & Aluko, O.B. & Okunade, D.A. & J.W.Gowing & Faborode, M.O., 2009. "Runoff water harvesting for dry spell mitigation for cowpea in the savannah belt of Nigeria," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(11), pages 1502-1508, November.
    11. Yonaba, R. & Koïta, M. & Mounirou, L.A. & Tazen, F. & Queloz, P. & Biaou, A.C. & Niang, D. & Zouré, C. & Karambiri, H. & Yacouba, H., 2021. "Spatial and transient modelling of land use/land cover (LULC) dynamics in a Sahelian landscape under semi-arid climate in northern Burkina Faso," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    12. Qin, Luoyi & Bai, Xiaoyong & Wang, Shijie & Zhou, Dequan & Li, Yue & Peng, Tao & Tian, Yichao & Luo, Guangjie, 2015. "Major problems and solutions on surface water resource utilisation in karst mountainous areas," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 55-65.
    13. Xie, Hua & You, Liangzhi & Takeshima, Hiroyuki, 2017. "Invest in small-scale irrigated agriculture: A national assessment on potential to expand small-scale irrigation in Nigeria," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 251-264.
    14. Kemeze, Francis H., 2020. "Demand for Supplemental Irrigation via Small-Scale Water Harvesting," 2020 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, Kansas City, Missouri 304569, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    15. Mo, Fei & Wang, Jian-Yong & Ren, Hong-Xu & Sun, Guo-Jun & Kavagi, Levis & Zhou, Hong & Nguluu, Simon N. & Gicheru, Patrick & Cheruiyot, Kiprotich W. & Xiong, You-Cai, 2018. "Environmental and economic benefits of micro–field rain–harvesting farming system at maize (Zea mays L.) field scale in semiarid east African Plateau," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 102-112.
    16. Pramod Pandey & Pieter Zaag & Michelle Soupir & Vijay Singh, 2013. "A New Model for Simulating Supplemental Irrigation and the Hydro-Economic Potential of a Rainwater Harvesting System in Humid Subtropical Climates," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(8), pages 3145-3164, June.
    17. Agossou Gadedjisso-Tossou & Tamara Avellán & Niels Schütze, 2019. "An Economic-Based Evaluation of Maize Production under Deficit and Supplemental Irrigation for Smallholder Farmers in Northern Togo, West Africa," Resources, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-11, November.
    18. Balasubramanya, Soumya & Kafle, Kashi, 2021. "Irrigation for reducing food insecurity: the case of Niger," 2021 Annual Meeting, August 1-3, Austin, Texas 313901, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    19. K. H. Anantha & Suhas P. Wani, 2016. "Evaluation of cropping activities in the Adarsha watershed project, southern India," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 8(5), pages 885-897, October.
    20. Stephen P. D’Alessandro & Jorge Caballero & John Lichte & Simon Simpkin, 2015. "Kenya," World Bank Publications - Reports 23350, The World Bank Group.
    21. repec:iwt:bosers:h042000 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Nawal Taaime & Khalil El Mejahed & Mariam Moussafir & Rachid Bouabid & Abdallah Oukarroum & Redouane Choukr-Allah & Mohamed El Gharous, 2022. "Early Sowing of Quinoa Cultivars, Benefits from Rainy Season and Enhances Quinoa Development, Growth, and Yield under Arid Condition in Morocco," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-19, March.
    23. Baiphethi, Mompati N. & Viljoen, Machiel F. & Kundhlande, Godfrey & Botha, J.J. & van Rensburg, L.D., 2006. "Quantifying the impact of in-field rainwater harvesting (IRWH) production techniques on household food security for communal farmers in Thaba Nchu, Free State Province," Agrekon, Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA), vol. 45(3), pages 1-15, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:afjrde:263632. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://afjrd.org/jos/index.php/afjrd/index .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.