KZN farmers take the lead in water stewardship

Agriculture is one of the mainstays of KwaZulu-Natal’s rural economy and supplies much of our country’s food and timber needs. However, it takes an enormous amount of water – around 70% of what’s available – to produce these products. How do we look after our water resources and what is agriculture currently doing? This fundamental question was discussed by a group of agricultural and commercial plantation forestry leaders, conservationists and researchers who met in the KZN midlands recently in celebration of National Water Week. The day-long session was hosted by the KwaZulu-Natal Agricultural Union (KWANALU) in conjunction with WWF, the International Water Security Network, UKZN and the uMngeni Ecological Infrastructure Partnership (UEIP). The catalyst for this ‘meeting-of-minds’ was the recognition that farmers are the custodians of large portions of our river catchments and the availability of good quality water in the uMngeni, Mooi and upper-Umvoti River catchments, which sustain over 5 million people, is under pressure.  Representatives from Potato SA, Forestry SA, the Mooi-Mpofana Irrigation Project, the South African Sugar Association, the Midlands North Sugar Environmental Committee and Edsel Hohls, president of the KZN Milk Producers’ Organisation, presented their various water stewardship initiatives and the challenges they faced.

In conclusion, they agreed that successful water stewardship in agricultural requires buy-in and strong leadership from each agricultural sector and should include associated value chains. The important role that KWANALU, conservancies, irrigation boards and catchment management fora play was also emphasised. To read more, click HERE.