Water Wheel Nov/Dec 2023: Irrigation

Abstract

IRRIGATION Farming consumes the lion’s share of South Africa’s increasingly scarce water resources, making it imperative that every drop is used more carefully. Government research studies suggest that irrigated agriculture consumes a whopping 62% of national water demand every year – yet farming is also the least water efficient sector, with reported wastage of up to 45% in some irrigation schemes. Adding to these challenges, studies point to a national water deficit of 17% by the end of this decade at a time when government is also striving to increase irrigated land by more than 50%. These are some of the reasons why the Department of Water and Sanitation requested the WRC to help develop a new framework for reporting water use efficiency in agriculture. This framework, dubbed the Irri-Drop Report, aims to generate more information on the extent of agricultural water losses at irrigation schemes across the country.

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