Application of Integrated Water Resources Management Towards Livelihood Improvement: A Case of Smallholder Farmers in Olushandja, Namibia

Abstract

AbstractNamibia is a semi-arid country, often affected by droughts and occasional floods in some of its regions. This forces smallholder farmers to battle with the challenge of water availability for productive agricultural use. To address the water challenges, Namibia developed and adopted Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) as per the Dublin Conference of 1992. The IWRM approach was implemented to provide an enabling environment for smallholder producers to increase food production such that food security and nutritional levels of all people in the country can be improved. In order to effectively implement IWRM, River Basin Organizations were used to foster water management at grassroots level. The Olushandja sub-basin is one such river basin, found in the larger Cuvelai-Etosha Basin (CEB). Smallholder farmers in the sub-basin are part of the Olushandja Horticulture Producer Association (OHPA) which aims to contribute to the agricultural sector in Namibia by cultivating crops for individual income, creating employment opportunities in the area and enhancing horticultural skills, thereby contributing to food security in the sub-basin. This chapter thus rests on the foundation that livelihood improvement and food security comes from effective management of water resources with a particular example on its application by smallholder farmers, found in Olushandja, in the north-central Omusati region of Namibia.KeywordsIntegrated Water Resources ManagementRiver Basin OrganizationWater resourcesAgricultureOlushandja