Environmental flows in support of sustainable intensification of agriculture in the Letaba River Basin, South Africa
Creators: name: Dickens, Chris
name: Whitney, C.
name: Luedeling, E.
name: Dlamini, V.
name: O'Brien, G.
name: Greffiths, Ikhothatseng Jacob
Publisher: name: Unknown
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Crop Production/Industries
subject: Environmental Economics and Policy
subject: Farm Management
subject: Food Security and Poverty
subject: International Development
subject: Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession
subject: Environmental flows
subject: Sustainable agriculture
subject: Sustainable intensification
subject: Small-scale farming
subject: Livelihoods
subject: River basins
subject: Water resources
subject: Water management
subject: Water availability
subject: Water demand
subject: Irrigation water
subject: Irrigated farming
subject: Subsistence farming
subject: Crop water use
subject: Water requirements
subject: Crop yield
subject: Ecosystem services
subject: River flow
subject: Catchment areas
subject: Fishing
subject: Livestock
subject: Smallholders
subject: Farmers
subject: Gender
subject: Women
subject: Risk
subject: Rural communities
subject: Policies
subject: Food security
subject: Sustainable Development Goals
subject: Water rights
subject: Land rights
subject: Modelling
subject: South Africa
subject: Letaba River Basin
subject: Limpopo Basin
subject: Prieska
subject: Mahale
subject: Ga-Selwane

description: This study evaluates the socioecological consequences of the potential trade-offs between maintaining environmental flows (e-flows) and providing water for sustainable subsistence agriculture and livelihoods to the vulnerable human communities living along the lower Great Letaba River in South Africa. Implementation of e-flows is now generally recognized as an essential part of water resources management as they are designed to ensure that sufficient water is retained in a river to protect river ecosystems and all the beneficiaries of services that arise from those ecosystems. Understanding the relationship between e-flows and the use of water for small-scale agriculture is important for the management of trade-offs. The Letaba River Basin and it's tributary, the Great/Groot Letaba, are located in the eastern part of the Limpopo province in South Africa. This is one of the most important river basins in the region supporting both large-scale commercial and small-scale farmers. The river sustains many vulnerable human communities who depend on the ecosystem services provided by the river. Yet, the water resources of the Letaba River are heavily overutilized due to expanding developments, including upstream dams with associated offtakes mostly for irrigation. The findings of the study indicate that irrigation water demand from subsistence agriculture in the Great Letaba Basin amounted to around 2 million cubic meters annually with median demand not exceeding 300,000 cubic meters per month. This means that irrigation water demand from smallholder agriculture only amounts to about one-tenth of the estimated e-flow requirement. However, small-scale farmers contend with an increasing crop water gap which limits irrigated agriculture, especially during the dry season. Given the need to sustainably maintain e-flows for ecological purposes, crop water gaps are only likely to increase and compromise the sustainability of irrigated agriculture. With active upstream supplementation of river flows from dams to maintain both environmental and livelihoods-oriented river flows, the crop water gap can be fully eliminated. This supplementation is not assured due to competing uses.