From research outputs to development outcomes—selected stories - Water Scarcity, Livelihoods and Food Security - page 191

South Africa, international acknowledgement leads to local acceptance
A learning alliance helped coordinate a number of action research projects with
AWARD, a local NGO. Whilst the results showed the practical application of
MUS, water sector managers in South Africa rarely read research papers or
policy briefs. Successful advocacy relies on personal contact rather than
documentation. A local champion within the alliance created some local
awareness, but not sufficient for wider adoption.
At the Fourth World Water Forum in Mexico in 2006, several key South
Africans were involved in a special MUS workshop, the results of which were
presented to the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. International
acceptance of South African research provided strong grounds for acceptance
of MUS, and the African Development Bank provided funding. Researchers
who continued to work on these issues were optimistic that MUS will be
incorporated into legislation as a result of on-going debate about merging the
Water Services Act and the National Water Act.
Research outputs and research priorities
Water control and farm intensification in the coastal Ganges (Ganges 1-5)
Water control in the lower Ganges in coastal Bangladesh is a critical issue.
During the wet season the land was flooded by the river. The land also flooded
from the sea during cyclones. During the dry season the river flow was
negligible and seawater intruded back up the river. To protect the land from
flooding, areas called polders 6 of tens to hundreds of hectares were surrounded
by earthen walls 1-2 m high. The walls, called dykes, protected the polder
from flooding in the wet season and from saltwater in the dry season. But
farmers could only grow one crop of rice during the monsoon wet season
because there was no freshwater to irrigate the polders in the dry season when
they were surrounded by saline water.
Projects PN10 and Ganges 2 evolved from “a lack of fresh water to intensify
cropping” to become “a lack of integrated water management within polders
to enable intensified cropping.” This, however, overlooked the need for
infrastructure to manage (store) water from the wet-season floods for irrigation
in the dry season. Lands inside polders are uneven, with low spots and high
spots, complicating attempts at drainage and irrigation. The project therefore
evolved to create water-control infrastructure to manage water within the
polders. This allowed land cropped in the wet season—regardless whether in
low spots or high spots—to be drained after harvest and to be sown with dry-
season crops and irrigated with stored freshwater.
The projects identified a number of possibilities depending on the local river
flow, which controls the salinity of the river water. Where it is possible to store
water from the wet-season flood, farmers could grow two consecutive crops of
rice, or wet-season rice followed by a high-value dry-season crop. This system