A systematic scoping review of irrigation development and agricultural water management in South Africa

An estimated 80% of Africa’s population depends on agriculture; hence, efficient agricultural water management (AWM) is crucial for enhancing agricultural and water productivity and building climate resilience across different farming scales to ensure food security. Approximately 90% of sub-Saharan...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Mabhaudhi, T., Dirwai, Tinashe Lindel, Taguta, C., Kanda, E. K., Nhamo, L., Cofie, Olufunke O.
Formato: Capítulo de libro
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Springer 2025
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174368
_version_ 1855528845883473920
author Mabhaudhi, T.
Dirwai, Tinashe Lindel
Taguta, C.
Kanda, E. K.
Nhamo, L.
Cofie, Olufunke O.
author_browse Cofie, Olufunke O.
Dirwai, Tinashe Lindel
Kanda, E. K.
Mabhaudhi, T.
Nhamo, L.
Taguta, C.
author_facet Mabhaudhi, T.
Dirwai, Tinashe Lindel
Taguta, C.
Kanda, E. K.
Nhamo, L.
Cofie, Olufunke O.
author_sort Mabhaudhi, T.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description An estimated 80% of Africa’s population depends on agriculture; hence, efficient agricultural water management (AWM) is crucial for enhancing agricultural and water productivity and building climate resilience across different farming scales to ensure food security. Approximately 90% of sub-Saharan Africa’s agriculture is rain-fed, and the bulk of the farmers are classified as smallholder farmers, constituting 70% of the continent’s population. Climate change (CC) and climate variability (CV) have increasingly imposed yield penalties on Africa’s irrigated and non-irrigated farming sectors. This has put significant pressure on the African farmer to produce more on less water. As such, the African Union (AU), through the AU-Irrigation Development and Agricultural Water Management (AU-IDAWM) framework, proposed four IDAWM pathways as potential countermeasures to yield penalties. Despite inroads made to equip the African farmer with extension services, a dearth of information related to performance challenges faced in the continent’s irrigation fraternity exists. This information is vital as a feedback loop to identify opportunities, challenges, and potential investment gaps to boost irrigation development in the continent. Therefore, using a South African case study, this research sought to assess the existing knowledge, gaps, challenges, and opportunities related to irrigation development and agricultural water management. PRISMA-P protocols guided the study. The SPIDER (Sample, Phenomenon of Interest, Design, Evaluation, and Research type) framework informed the eligibility criteria, which we used to formulate the inclusion–exclusion criteria. The different AU-IDAWM exhibited varied developments in infrastructural and governance structures. The AWM practices exhibited overlaps than variances under the rain-fed, FLID, and modernisation pathways.
format Book Chapter
id CGSpace174368
institution CGIAR Consortium
language Inglés
publishDate 2025
publishDateRange 2025
publishDateSort 2025
publisher Springer
publisherStr Springer
record_format dspace
spelling CGSpace1743682025-12-08T09:54:28Z A systematic scoping review of irrigation development and agricultural water management in South Africa Mabhaudhi, T. Dirwai, Tinashe Lindel Taguta, C. Kanda, E. K. Nhamo, L. Cofie, Olufunke O. irrigation development agricultural water management water governance water productivity population density farmer-led irrigation smallholders systematic reviews An estimated 80% of Africa’s population depends on agriculture; hence, efficient agricultural water management (AWM) is crucial for enhancing agricultural and water productivity and building climate resilience across different farming scales to ensure food security. Approximately 90% of sub-Saharan Africa’s agriculture is rain-fed, and the bulk of the farmers are classified as smallholder farmers, constituting 70% of the continent’s population. Climate change (CC) and climate variability (CV) have increasingly imposed yield penalties on Africa’s irrigated and non-irrigated farming sectors. This has put significant pressure on the African farmer to produce more on less water. As such, the African Union (AU), through the AU-Irrigation Development and Agricultural Water Management (AU-IDAWM) framework, proposed four IDAWM pathways as potential countermeasures to yield penalties. Despite inroads made to equip the African farmer with extension services, a dearth of information related to performance challenges faced in the continent’s irrigation fraternity exists. This information is vital as a feedback loop to identify opportunities, challenges, and potential investment gaps to boost irrigation development in the continent. Therefore, using a South African case study, this research sought to assess the existing knowledge, gaps, challenges, and opportunities related to irrigation development and agricultural water management. PRISMA-P protocols guided the study. The SPIDER (Sample, Phenomenon of Interest, Design, Evaluation, and Research type) framework informed the eligibility criteria, which we used to formulate the inclusion–exclusion criteria. The different AU-IDAWM exhibited varied developments in infrastructural and governance structures. The AWM practices exhibited overlaps than variances under the rain-fed, FLID, and modernisation pathways. 2025-04-13 2025-04-29T08:27:14Z 2025-04-29T08:27:14Z Book Chapter https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174368 en Open Access Springer Mabhaudhi, T.; Dirwai, Tinashe L.; Taguta, C.; Kanda, E. K.; Nhamo, L.; Cofie, Olufunke. 2025. A systematic scoping review of irrigation development and agricultural water management in South Africa. In Mabhaudhi, T.; Chimonyo, V. G. P.; Senzanje, A.; Chivenge, P. P. (Eds.). Enhancing water and food security through improved agricultural water productivity: new knowledge, innovations and applications. Singapore: Springer. pp.279-297. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-96-1848-4_13]
spellingShingle irrigation development
agricultural water management
water governance
water productivity
population density
farmer-led irrigation
smallholders
systematic reviews
Mabhaudhi, T.
Dirwai, Tinashe Lindel
Taguta, C.
Kanda, E. K.
Nhamo, L.
Cofie, Olufunke O.
A systematic scoping review of irrigation development and agricultural water management in South Africa
title A systematic scoping review of irrigation development and agricultural water management in South Africa
title_full A systematic scoping review of irrigation development and agricultural water management in South Africa
title_fullStr A systematic scoping review of irrigation development and agricultural water management in South Africa
title_full_unstemmed A systematic scoping review of irrigation development and agricultural water management in South Africa
title_short A systematic scoping review of irrigation development and agricultural water management in South Africa
title_sort systematic scoping review of irrigation development and agricultural water management in south africa
topic irrigation development
agricultural water management
water governance
water productivity
population density
farmer-led irrigation
smallholders
systematic reviews
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/174368
work_keys_str_mv AT mabhaudhit asystematicscopingreviewofirrigationdevelopmentandagriculturalwatermanagementinsouthafrica
AT dirwaitinashelindel asystematicscopingreviewofirrigationdevelopmentandagriculturalwatermanagementinsouthafrica
AT tagutac asystematicscopingreviewofirrigationdevelopmentandagriculturalwatermanagementinsouthafrica
AT kandaek asystematicscopingreviewofirrigationdevelopmentandagriculturalwatermanagementinsouthafrica
AT nhamol asystematicscopingreviewofirrigationdevelopmentandagriculturalwatermanagementinsouthafrica
AT cofieolufunkeo asystematicscopingreviewofirrigationdevelopmentandagriculturalwatermanagementinsouthafrica
AT mabhaudhit systematicscopingreviewofirrigationdevelopmentandagriculturalwatermanagementinsouthafrica
AT dirwaitinashelindel systematicscopingreviewofirrigationdevelopmentandagriculturalwatermanagementinsouthafrica
AT tagutac systematicscopingreviewofirrigationdevelopmentandagriculturalwatermanagementinsouthafrica
AT kandaek systematicscopingreviewofirrigationdevelopmentandagriculturalwatermanagementinsouthafrica
AT nhamol systematicscopingreviewofirrigationdevelopmentandagriculturalwatermanagementinsouthafrica
AT cofieolufunkeo systematicscopingreviewofirrigationdevelopmentandagriculturalwatermanagementinsouthafrica