Challenges of accessing water for agriculture by emerging farmers of the Breede-Gouritz catchment management agency

Abstract

Access to natural resources in South Africa is highly skewed with access to water even wider. The bulk of the water is accessed more by large-scale commercial farmers than historically disadvantaged individuals (including smallholder farmers and emerging farmers). The reform of natural resources including that of water brought developments and implementation of new policies and strategies within the water sector to improve access to water by the smallholder farmers. Licensing water use was supposed to solve the problem of access to water. However, the process has had little impact to date with few licences being released to the smallholder farmers. The study aimed to assess the challenges faced by organisations that support smallholder farmers, specifically the Breede-Gouritz Catchment Management Agency, in allocating water to the smallholder farmers. The study also explored the challenges faced by the smallholder farmers in accessing water through the water user licensing process. A qualitative case study approach was used for data collection. The main objectives of the research were to review the status of the national Water Allocation Reform strategy in terms of the progress of its strategic intent and contribution towards achieving equity in water allocation in South Africa; to review the success of Water Allocation Reform strategy of the Breede-Gouritz Catchment Management Agency in allocating water to smallholder and emerging farmers; to identify organisational capacity challenges that the Breede-Gouritz Catchment Management Agency faces in implementing its Water Allocation Reform strategy through the water use licence process; and also to identify socio-economic capacity challenges that smallholder farmers face in applying for water user licences. The study adopted the Policy Implementation Framework to understand the challenges that the organisations supporting smallholder farmers face in achieving water allocation reform and that which smallholder farmers face when applying for a water user licence. The data was collected through desktop reviews and one-to-one interviews. The data were analysed using Atlas.ti software version 8.1. The results showed that the existing lawful water use continues to privilege previously advantaged commercial farmers. There is a lack of human capacity in organisations supporting smallholders, which leads to limited communication between the organisation and smallholder farmers. The Breede-Gouritz Catchment Management Agency also experiences water scarcity, which limits available water. There is little or no understanding of the water user licence application processes by smallholder farmers. Therefore, there is a need to establish a water allocation unit that deals specifically with water licensing at the Breede-Gouritz Catchment Management Agency to speed up the process and more water should be made available in catchment areas through persuading the existing lawful users to release some of their water. The study further recommends the categorisation of smallholder farmers with different needs to be able to assist them according to their needs.