Adoption of in-field rainwater harvesting: Insights from smallholder farmers in Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

Abstract

The in-field rainwater harvesting technique (IRWHT) has been widely promoted for the sustainability of crop production, particularly in naturally water-stressed regions. It is a technology developed to harvest rainwater that could be put into efficient use for farming. The technology was a product of collaborative efforts of the Institute for Soil, Climate and Water (ISCW) of the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) and University of Fort Hare (UFH). The technology was piloted in several villages under Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality (RMLM) from 2004 to 2012. Sixteen years after the introduction of the technology, the study examined the sustainability use of the technology amongst the adopters from the Tyhume valley area. The quantitative methodological approach was used for this study and simple random sampling technique was used to select 150 project respondents for the survey. Data was collected and analysed using Statistical Package for Social Science. Descriptive statistical analysis, frequency count, percentages, means and standard deviation were used for quantitative data analysis. Findings revealed that 96% of smallholder farmers discontinued the use of IRWHT, with the majority abandoning the technology 5 to 8 years post adoption. Amongst the reasons adduced by the respondents include complexity of the technology, space taking up by the technology for water retention/ storage and time to construct the basins. The technology was labour intensive, time consuming and requires lots of inputs. Findings also indicate that farmers experienced poor support after the pilot stage. The study recommends efficient and effective monitoring and evaluation of projects post pilot stage to consolidates adoption process.