Farmers turn to practical, local solutions for water efficiency

The solutions that they found to be most effective are those that are practical for them as farmers and also that are suited for local conditions

Farmers in peri-urban areas are adopting practical, locally appropriate solutions like borehole systems, water recycling and closed-loop systems, integrating efficiency strategies to optimise their limited water resources.

Speaking at a recent Water Security Webinar, Nozipho Soka, Founder and Managing Director of Rea Jala Veggies, shared that the solutions that they found to be most effective are those that are practical for them as farmers and which are suited to local conditions. 

“We’re in a peri-urban area, so we have limited access to water. So we’ve had to be very intentional in how we utilise our water. And so we utilise a borehole system; we draw water from the borehole. And one of the shifts that we’ve implemented is a closed-loop water system, where we try to recycle and reuse water,” she said.

She explained that they channel water from vegetable processing and then channel it into the irrigation system. 

“And also on the dairy, we’ve also channelled water there into a manure pit, where we then mix the manure with water and then channel it to the vegetables. So this has really reduced water usage, the recycling of this water,” she said.

Brewer sets targets for water usage

For the breweries industry, Molatelo Motau, Sustainability Manager at HEINEKEN Beverages, shared that everyone understands that the industry uses a lot of water, which is why they instituted their Bring a Better World strategy for 2030. 

“We’ve committed to reducing our water usage per hectolitre in our brewing processes, where we have implemented advanced water reuse and treatment technologies across many of our breweries, where we are targeting to reach about 2.6 hectolitres in water use in water-stressed areas, South Africa being one of them.””

Motau said this second aspect of the strategy is water balancing, where they are working with stakeholders to protect watersheds around their breweries.

“In South Africa, we’ve partnered with different NGOs, water bodies, and even the government, where we have rehabilitation programmes. Some include protecting wetlands and removing alien invasive species. But we also are pushing for the protection of catchments, so water from the source,” he said. 

Daniel Viviers-Rasmussen, Principal at NewForesight, said they are seeing a trend where water has not traditionally been treated as a material issue, and has not been top of mind for downstream actors.

“It hasn’t really impacted their operations, but it’s starting to impact operations. But I think also, more importantly, especially at the European level, now that we talk more about international supply chains, there are a lot of regulatory changes in terms of the regulatory frameworks, where now actually you have the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), so the reporting directive, where companies now need to report on their document materiality, which also includes water, right? And now suddenly because of more of a material issue, it’s part of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR),” he said.

He added that although some incentive-based solutions are slowly emerging, they remain far too limited.

“I mean, typically companies in the supply chains will try and push certification, whether that is Global GAP, Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS), or Rainforest Alliance. And the financial incentive in terms of the actual premium system is too small to really make an impact,” he said.

Cover photo:  soleg©123rf.com