A 10-year study across Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe highlights the crucial role of profitable irrigation in smallholder farming. The study, part of the Transforming Irrigation in Southern Africa project, focused on addressing capacity constraints in small-scale irrigation systems and explored how circular food systems could be implemented to boost profitability. The findings indicate several key barriers and proposed solutions to improve the sustainability and productivity of smallholder farming in the region.
Key Barriers to Smallholder Irrigation Schemes
One of the main challenges is the disconnect between national policies and local realities. Government objectives, such as achieving food security, often do not align with the livelihood goals of smallholder farmers. Large irrigation projects funded by donors are common, but these tend to overlook the unique needs of smaller-scale farmers. Additionally, smallholder farmers are often forced to grow staple crops like maize, rice, and wheat, which are not very profitable, especially on small irrigation plots. This results in high production costs and low-value crops, contributing to the dysfunction of irrigation schemes and infrastructure decay.
Another significant issue is poor governance and management of farm plots and water resources. Cropping calendars tend to prioritize low-value crops, and water scheduling is sub-optimal. The weak governance of irrigation systems, combined with unclear land tenure and infrastructure management roles, creates conflict and insecurity among farmers. Moreover, inadequate market access and poor transport infrastructure further reduce the profitability of farming, draining farmers’ capacity and incentive to invest in production.
Capacity Constraints for Farmers
Farmers face multiple capacity constraints, including limited finances, lack of irrigation knowledge, poor market access, and insufficient business training. Low household incomes prevent farmers from accessing credit, purchasing necessary farm inputs, or investing in irrigation equipment, all of which affect production efficiency. Insecure land tenure prevents farmers from using land as collateral to access formal lending, forcing them to rely on expensive informal loans.
Many farmers are also new to irrigation and struggle to manage water effectively, leading to issues like nutrient leaching. Furthermore, farmers often lack access to market information and are poorly connected to buyers, making it difficult to sell their produce at a profit. The lack of basic business training means that farmers are often unaware of the most profitable crops to grow or how to manage input costs, resulting in inefficient farming practices.
Proposed Solutions for Improved Irrigation
The study suggests that smallholder irrigation systems can be transformed to produce more food, create jobs, and be profitable. Several interventions were identified to improve irrigation schemes and help farmers adapt to climate change. One such intervention is the use of agricultural innovation platforms, which bring together farmers, extension officers, local authorities, and other stakeholders to address local barriers to profitability. These platforms have helped farmers, particularly women and youth, access organizations and resources they would not otherwise have had the opportunity to engage with.
Additionally, the use of simple soil monitoring tools has allowed farmers to experiment with irrigation practices, reducing water use and improving yields. This has led to social learning, where best practices are shared across farming communities. Other interventions include establishing better market linkages, monitoring the quality of agricultural inputs, providing farm business training, and resolving conflicts over land tenure through participatory mapping.
What Needs to Happen Next?
Moving forward, large-scale, input-intensive agricultural production systems are deemed unsuitable for smallholder farmers. New models focusing on the needs of smallholders and local economic development should be prioritized. These models should help create livelihoods for young people in rural areas by integrating irrigation, dryland, and livestock systems to improve efficiency and reduce reliance on expensive inputs.
Circular food systems projects, which use smallholder irrigation schemes as learning sites, are helping farmers demonstrate how to integrate crop processing, reuse of by-products, and value addition. Such initiatives are creating local business opportunities, such as using crop residues to feed livestock or processing grain into flour. These developments could generate greater economic benefits per unit of land, labor, and water.
To support these changes, policy adjustments are necessary, including removing restrictive licensing systems, encouraging land consolidation, facilitating access to finance for smallholder business development, and improving policy alignment and accountability at various governance levels. With the right interventions, smallholder agriculture in Southern Africa has the potential to be more profitable and resilient.
