| Excutive
summary: |
For many
years the need to avert water shortages has resulted in farmers
turning to wetlands for crop production. The wetlands are
attractive units for their rich soils and year round moisture,
which is favorable to crops during the dry season and drought
years. But wetlands also have many functions that are beneficial
to the environment and humans, and if used unwisely these
benefits will be destroyed. This study proposes to use trade-off
analyses to study the mix of agricultural (crop and livestock)
and fisheries water use strategies in dambos and riverine
swamps, and the trade-off among them as a tool to assist decision-making
regarding the use of these wetlands to ensure that livelihoods
continue to be supported in a way that does not compromise
environmental security. The focus of the study is facilitating
sustainable wetland management and development. The proposal
is based on the basic hypothesis that wetland can be managed
in a sustainable manner, and that a balance between protection
and agricultural production can be achieved, ensuring optimal
use of wetlands. It will investigate wetlands in upper and
lower catchments of the Limpopo basin.
The project
addresses crop water productivity in wetlands, agriculture
in upper catchments, aquatic ecosystems, and integrated basin
water management system. It will be implemented over five
years. The expected research outputs are:
- An
inventory of the different methods of wetland water management
for agriculture and tosupport livelihoods.
- A framework
for a gender disaggregated social welfare indicator based
on food security andincome goals of farmers.
- Empirical
knowledge of the natural resource base™s potential
to produce agricultural products and ecological goods and
services.
- Analytical
framework for analyzing trade-offs between food production/security
and
environmental security developed and applied and comparative
analysis of social welfare benefits accruing from various
options for wetland water use for agriculture, and the trade-offs
among them, including trade-offs among different intensities
of each use.
- Knowledge
of technical management inputs to attain different levels
of crop production in wetlands and the associated trade-offs.
- Recommendations
and guidelines, based on trade-offs analysis, for allocating
uses to dambos and riverine swamps for extension agents,
traditional decisionmakers, and wetland users; and policy
recommendations on agricultural wetland use regulation.
- Enhanced
capacity of wetland users, decision makers (both government
officials and traditional decision makers), researchers,
and other stakeholders.
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