Preliminary Assessment of Socio-economic Potential for Rain Water Harvesting (RWH) in Semi-arid Bobirwa Sub-district of Eastern Botswana

This report is an account of an on-going study being carried out in Mathathane, Motlhabaneng and Tsetsebjwe villages of Bobirwa Sub-district in eastern Botswana to assess the socioeconomic potential for RWH. Bobirwa Sub-district has a mean annual rainfall of 350 mm, and is composed of hardveld soils that are mostly loams to sandy clay loams. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) workshops were conducted in March 2012 at the three villages. The PRA workshops identified a number of agricultural production constraints including low variable rainfall, pests, weeds, poor management and low prices. Possible RWH techniques were also identified including winter ploughing, ripping, double ploughing and inter-row cultivation. Five willing farmers were sampled from each village to participate in future socio-economic monitoring and RWH technology development.