Project Detail

Rain Water Harvesting for Crop Backyard Gardening in GaKutlo

Gakutlo is a village with a population of about 1200 inhabitants. The main source of living here is pastoral and arable farming with government senior citizens subsidy to augment with food handouts. There are no industries or sources of formal employment in this village except for a primary school, clinic, local administration office and agricultural extension office.

This area receives around 500 mm of rainfall annually, and the rainfall is erratic and unreliable. The area experiences some droughts. The situation is not being helped by climate change which is making rainfall scarcity even worse. Climate change make rainfed arable farming less productive consequently leading to food shortage at household levels. However, with relatively cheap technology rainwater can be harvested and stored for use when the need arises. The harvested rainfall can also be used for watering backyard gardens at household levels. It is therefore the purpose of this project to enable the financially disadvantaged members of this community to produce vegetables at household level, with the potential to sell excess produce and hence wealth creation. This is also in line with government policy to encourage people to have backyard gardens to improve food security. Vegetables are important in that they will improve the nutrition of the community especially those suffering from HIV/AIDS. Sold excess vegetables will pave way for sustainable livelihood and possible wealth creation.

Roof water harvesting envisages proper channeling of water from the roof to the storage facility and not letting it runoff on the ground. It is this prevention of ground runoff that will lower if not totally eliminate the risk of soil erosion which degrades the environment. The rainwater harvested from the roof will be used for watering the backyard vegetable gardens using a low-head drip irrigation system. A planning grant of USD 2000 was used to facilitate community awareness and appreciation of the roof water harvesting project. The grant was also used to carry out a needs assessment/socio economic survey in Gakuto. The results of the survey did indicate that there is a need for water in Gakuto and that there is need for establishing backyard gardens. The detailed results of the socio-economic survey can be found in the Planning Grant report. The project is envisaged to run for 1.5 years as outlined in the implementation schedule. The major anticipated project outputs are improved diet at household level and some degree of poverty reduction by possible income generation from sold vegetables. The entire project will cost about US$ 26 087-60 (or BWP 200230.80) to implement.

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Project Snapshot

Grantee:

Botswana College of Agriculture

Country:

Botswana

Area Of Work:

Land Degradation

Operational Phase:

Phase 4

Grant Amount:

US$ 24,000.00

Co-Financing Cash:

US$ 10,000.00

Co-Financing in-Kind:

US$ 45,945.00

Project Number:

BOT/SGP/OP4/CORE/10/07

Start Date:

4/2010

End Date:

10/2011

Status:

Satisfactorily Completed

Project Characteristics and Results

Gender Focus

At all the stages of project implementation there will always be deliberate effort by the project team to achieve a gender balanced community membership attending the demonstrations, workshops and kgotla meetings. There will also be monitoring and evaluation of the project for a period of about four months or in the middle of the second crop after completing the installations.

Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment

During the training, workshops and kgotla meeting the community will be made aware of the global environmental problems and possible mitigations where possible. All these will ensure capacity building in Gakuto village is substantially achieved.

Linkages gef projects

None

Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods

The project intends to generate participation of the communities in this village so as to achieve sustainable livelihoods. There will be training of the recipients during project life as well as training of the wider community during the workshops. To ensure a wider community participation, during the training sessions and demonstrations some community members will be invited. It is envisaged once more people are aware of the relatively cheap method of roof water harvesting for vegetable production there will be more families eating healthy food and hence food security at household achieved.

Notable Community Participation

The project will be carried out over a period of 1.5 years by conducting installation of the roof water harvesting system at four different households and at different times. The major focus of the project will be installing rain water harvesting systems and vegetable production. There will also be preparation of the gardens and seeds. The less resourced community members of this village will be able to eat healthy vegetables and therefore live a better healthy life. The beneficiaries of the project will be encouraged to produce more than they consume, enabling them to sell excess vegetables and when income is generated this way, poverty reduction will eventually be achieved and hence sustainable livelihoods also achieved.

Capacity - Building Component

The recipients and noticeable number of the members of the community will also be trained on operation and maintenance of rainwater harvesting system, basic horticulture, as well as basic record keeping. The results would then be disseminated to the rest of the community, through workshops, kgotla meeting and also publications such as the Daily News or similar outlets, which are accessible to all in order to further cultivate interest in rain water harvesting for backyard gardening.

Planning gef grant

• Funds permitting we would like to do this project in a remote and less privileged primary school where there is acute shortage of water for vegetable gardens

Policy Influence

• There is the opportunity of government adding roof top water harvesting technology on the present poverty eradication drive through backyard gardens. • In areas where saline underground water is common, roof top water harvesting can be used for domestic and other uses.

Planning non gef grant

• We had made a proposal in collaboration with Botswana Agricultural Teachers Association to source funds from Debswana to establish rain water harvesting for vegetable gardening in a remote and less privileged primary school around Jwaneng. • Unfortunately, due to economic meltdown we have not received a positive response.

Replication of project activities

• We would like to replicate this useful project in other remote and less privileged villages/settlements, for example in Motshegaletau, Sehunou, Mabuo, Mhalapitsa in Tswapong area in central district.

Project sustainability

• With a better rainfall pattern in the area, the project will be sustainable. • Recipients have been trained on the use of the irrigation system, crop management and record keeping. Therefore, they have requisite knowledge to sustain the project.

Project Results

Describe to what extent the objectives of the Agreement were accomplished:
a) promotion of roof water harvesting technology;
roof water harvesting technology was promoted through
i. installation of water roof water harvesting system (gutters, reservoirs) for four beneficiaries
ii. teaching about roof water harvesting technology at kgotla and training workshops

(b) building capacity in roof water harvesting among communities
• conducted two training workshops for the community about rainwater harvesting

(c) demonstration of low cost drip irrigation system for vegetable production
• installation of family drip system was always conducted in presence of beneficiaries and other community members
• drip operation and maintenance were emphasised during installation
• Garden land preparation and vegetable planting were also always conducted in presence of beneficiaries and other community members
• Crop management practices (pest control, weeding, manure application etc) were also demonstrated

(d) disseminate widely the outcome of the project for possible adoption by similar communities in the country.
• A handbook outlining the guidelines for rainwater harvesting for backyard gardening has been prepared and is awaiting publication

Describe the immediate benefits received by the participants and/or the recipient communities:
• Income generation through sales of vegetables.
• Household nutrition improved through consumption of vegetables and other foodstuff acquired through income that was generated
• Roof water harvesting for backyard gardening understood and adopted

Describe long-term benefits:
• Wider knowledge and skill of roof water harvesting in the Gakuto community
• Wide dissemination of results of the project elsewhere in the country through the handbook.
• Some degree of poverty reduction through acquisition of some assets (Goats, donkey)

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