Irrigation Dynamics across Southeast Africa Demand a Climate Adaptation Strategy Fostering Farmers’ Collective Participation
Across Africa, climate change distorts rain and river water availability for small-scale farmers, weakening their socioeconomic well-being and rural livelihoods. As the backbone of African countries’ agri-food production critical for sustainable development, small-scale farmers’ climate resilience is crucial for socio-economic stability in times of environmental uncertainty. In response, agroecology advocates from the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa champion the adoption of farmer-led indigenous irrigation schemes including wetlands water harvesting and mountainous furrow irrigation. By leaning on traditional irrigation technologies, it’s believed small-scale farmers can cultivate and harvest food crops for Africa’s growing population despite climate shocks due to stable irrigated water availability. Notably, as an alternative, large-scale irrigation schemes such as dams have proven to be ineffective in times of climate-induced droughts and floods. Consequently, community-governed indigenous irrigation has expanded in Southeast Africa as a climate adaptative strategy. Notably, in Zimbabwe (Southern Africa) where indigenous irrigation schemes thrive across Mutoko (northeast Zimbabwe) and in Tanzania (East Africa) where mountainous furrow irrigation has been embraced across Kilimanjaro (northeast Tanzania).
In light of the recent World Water Day as well as the urgency to fulfil the Africa Water Vision 2025 and Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme 2025 - understanding irrigation access dynamics unpacks the potential of indigenous or agroecology-inspired irrigation as an emerging climate adaptation alternative for farmers. As a relatively novel approach to agri-food production, assessing the governance of indigenous irrigation schemes across Southeast Africa is essential to prevent the repetition of large-scale irrigation schemes’ shortcomings whilst optimising small-scale farmers' resilience. This fundamentally requires problematising the assumption of inherent equal access or egalitarianism amongst small-scale farmers beyond increased irrigated water availability. Communities of farmers possess diverse and potentially divergent interests that shape irrigation access dynamics therefore their collective participation is integral to mark indigenous irrigation as an optimal climate-adaption strategy.
Water accessibility within irrigation schemes in, for instance, the Usangu Basin (southwest Tanzania) and the Insiza River (southwest Zimbabwe) are influenced beyond farmers’ self-seeking interests as it could lead to the tragedy of commons.In contrast, authority structures and ownership dynamics as constituents of state or community governance as typical irrigation governance modes better highlight irrigated water access dynamics amongst small-scale farmers. Interestingly, the Southern African Development Community (SADC)’s Regional Water Policy, applicable to Zimbabwe and Tanzania as SADC member states, outlines the importance of both governance forms in contouring irrigated water distribution despite their stereotypical association with either large-scale (state governance) or small-scale (community-governed) irrigation. Additionally, formal (written) and informal (unwritten) institutions or rules play a jointly crucial role in impacting irrigation access dynamics. Across northeast Tanzania (Nshara) and northeast Zimbabwe (Matedza), informal local institutional arrangements are tools used by farmers to shape irrigation access dynamics beyond formal or written rules. Effectively challenging shortcomings of formal institutions to encompass farmers’, at times divergent, social interests as irrigation users which tend to focus on formal arrangements of irrigation maintenance, irrigation water allocation and conflict management. However, formal institutions remain paramount, they affect what ought to ideally occur whilst informal institutions as on-the-ground modifications of formal institutions illuminate how farmers interact given their heterogenous interests and statuses.
As informality interweaves with established formal institutions, irrigation access - the ownership of irrigation water-use rights beyond the technical delivery of a quantifiable share of irrigation water can be attained through farmers; collective participation. Collective participation or actions taken by farmers as members of irrigation scheme associations enable the interaction of small-scale farmers’ differing interests to be deliberated within civil organizations mandated with sustainable irrigation water distribution, operation and maintenance.
By Perazim Singo
