Mapping the rocky road to smallholder vitality

Abstract

Smallholder irrigation Government has poured millions of Rands into smallholder irrigation schemes in the hope that they will contribute to economic growth, employment and poverty alleviation in rural areas. Yet many of these schemes remain in ruin. Now a new set of Water Research Commission (WRC) guidelines hopes to provide the map to the rocky road of smallholder irrigation scheme recovery. There are more than 300 smallholder irrigation schemes in South Africa, covering about 50 000 ha. Most of these are located in the former homelands. Despite ongoing annual government investment, many of these schemes have collapsed or remain under-utilised. The reasons for failure are diverse and the debate on possible solutions for the challenges faced by these schemes continues unabated. As the authors of the WRC Irrigation Revitalisation guidelines, Jonathan Denison and Siyabu Manona, point out, there is no simplified answer.

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