干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

Ensuring food security in the densely populated but environmentally fragile and unfavourable semi-arid areas of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region represents a major challenge for the agricultural future in Southern Africa. For most of the 10 million people who live in this region, farming is principally a way of life, not a commercial activity.

A number of traditional, new and adapted intervention techniques for water harvesting and soil conservation are known in the SADC region which all aim to alleviate the most limiting crop production factors: water and soil fertility. Some of these techniques have already been researched or even implemented. This paper summarizes and highlights the major findings of such research and experiences.

Socio-economic factors are considered as well as their interaction with intervention measures such as tillage methods including traditional systems, mulching and crop residue management techniques and crop selection and intercropping. The influences of termite induced micro-topography and weed competition on water harvesting and conservation are also considered.

Constraints on the successful improvement or insurance of crop production in semi-arid areas of SADC are identified. Although further research will be required in certain areas, experience has shown that ensuring the large-scale practical implementation of research results via extension activities poses a greater challenge than mobilizing resources for needed research efforts. Unless this crucial step is taken, the farmers in the target areas of the SADC region will not be able to increase their yields and improve their living conditions.