A livelihoods approach to assessing the role of sand river aquifers for irrigation purposes : A case of Tshelanyemba community along Shashani River in Zimbabwe

Effects and impacts of climate change have been experienced by Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, and Zimbabwe is not an exception, with drought, and prolonged dry spells being the most critical climate-related dangers. Although irrigation development had since been a worthwhile investment, much attention has been given to the establishment and rehabilitation of communal irrigation schemes by both the Government of Zimbabwe, as well as external development agencies. However, due to collective action issues, these irrigation schemes have proved to be financially unsustainable. Due to the existence of Shashani sand river, which has proved to be a reliable nature-based water storage during droughts and dry seasons, different farmers are engaging in irrigated crop production as one of their livelihood strategies. These farmers include brushwood garden farmers, owning small gardens, community garden farmers, where Dabane Water Works (DWW) established such gardens since the 1990s, as well as individual farmers, with gardens at their homesteads whilst pumping water from the sand river. Additionally, an action research (AR) project in the form of two Arid African Alluvial Aquifers Laboratories (A4Labs) project gardens was established along Shashani river to find out the reason behind the underutilisation of Shashani sand river. This study aimed to qualitatively assess the contribution that access and use of water from Shashani sand river for irrigated crop production had on the livelihoods of different people, both irrigating and non-irrigating farmers. To assess the contribution towards the livelihood of irrigated crop production livelihood strategy through accessing Shashani sand river aquifers, the study looked first at how different farmers’ livelihoods were before irrigation, including the livelihood strategies that farmers used to pursue. Through farmers’ experiences and perceptions, the contribution that access to Shashani sand river through irrigated crop production was captured through changes in the state of livelihoods and livelihood strategies. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 54 informants from various farming groups including brushwood garden farmers, community and A4Labs garden farmers, individual farmers, rainfed farmers, Tshelanyemba hospital, as well as key informants, where 81% of the interviewees were women. The study concludes that despite small gardens being given less attention, access and use of water from Shashani sand river for irrigated crop production through gardening have contributed significantly towards influencing different farmers’ livelihoods. This was mainly due to the production of vegetables for household consumption, as well as generation of income from excess. However, due to mainly poverty, there is a lack of developmental trajectories by farmers in the absence of external assistance. The study also concludes that despite the abundance of water from the sand river, due to distances travelled by farmers from homesteads to the gardens, some farmers’ plans disregard the use of the river for irrigation in the future. Additionally, not all farmers residing relatively close to the river are accessing the sand river for irrigated crop production due to reasons ranging from lack of branches to having other means of surviving. The study recommends intervention through development agencies in the form of assisting brushwood garden farmers in upscaling their own small gardens, awareness, and trainings of community garden farmers towards increasing their sense of ownership as well as on operation and maintenance funds. Further research may be required on evaluating the gendered nature of farmer-led irrigators, and the potential opportunities for women and youth emerging farmers