Desire for Greener Land

Human Environment
Cropland per household
(ha)
10,000
The top lid of the underground tank
Implementation activities, inputs and costs
Establishment activities
1. Digging pit
2. Transporting sand, cement and concrete blocks
3. Construction
Maintenance/recurrent activities
1. Cleaning roof
2. Cleaning storage tank
Land user: Individual small scale land users and
disadvantaged land users
Population density: < 10 persons/km 2
Annual population growth: 2% - 3%
Land ownership: communal / village
Land use rights: open access (unorganised)
(Communal grazing and individual land ownership for
ploughing. Water availed through communal boreholes
in lands and cattle posts, but with individual standpipes
in villages. Open access to surface water resources for
livestock e.g. pans after rains. Dual grazing rights
problem, whereby private ranchers graze in the
commons, but the opposite not possible.)
Water use rights: communal (organised) (Communal
grazing and individual land ownership for ploughing.
Water availed through communal boreholes in lands
and cattle posts, but with individual standpipes in
villages.
SLM Technology: Roof rainwater harvesting system, Botwana DESIRE – WOCAT 2012
Open access to surface water resources for
livestock e.g. pans after rains. Dual grazing rights
problem, whereby private ranchers graze in the
commons, but the opposite not possible.)
Relative level of wealth: very poor, which
represent 30%; 20% of the total land area is
owned by very poor land users
Importance of off-farm income: less than 10% of
all income: Saves labour time to fetch water. Very
limited off-farm income opportunities for everyone,
including non-adopters of the technology
Access to service and infrastructure: low:
employment, energy, financial services; moderate:
health, education, technical assistance, market,
roads & transport, drinking water and sanitation
Market orientation: subsistence (self-supply)
Technical drawing
Rain water falls onto the corrugated roof surface,
which usually measures 7 x 6m. This water flows
down into the gutters, then down through the pipe
into an underground water storage tank (built from
concrete blocks which are lined with a coating of
mortar, or mortar is applied to wire mesh. Most
storage tanks, when full, have a capacity of about
110 drums (a drum holds 200 litres). Without this
system, a farmer usually only has about 2 drums
per week. (Atlhopheng Julius).
Establishment inputs and costs per unit
Circular underground tank
Inputs Costs (US$ / local
currency)
% met by
land user
Labour
Construction material
12.5 100
- sand, cement, concrete
block
Other
1500 100
- labour by government
person (8 person days)
500 0
TOTAL 2012.5 75
Maintenance/recurrent inputs and costs per unit per year
Inputs Costs (US$ / local
currency)
% met by
land user
Labour 12.5 100
TOTAL 12.5 100
Remarks:
Cost of building materials, specifically iron sheets, timber, concrete blocks, cement and the professional builder from the government.
Prices of construction material for the roof rainwater system, fitted with the underground water storage system. All prices and exchange
rates were calculated for 29 September 2008. The government subsidy was such that, men pay 30% of all costs, while women pay 20%.
The 20-30% could be paid through labour (i.e. digging the pit, transporting sand and cement and serving as a labour hand during
construction. Thus if the farmer offers labour, then he does not pay anything. The costs are calculated with labour input and its price or
the local wage, which is 5 US$ per day. Each roof catchment unit is supposed to benefit one household, so it serves on average 4
people, who farm a 2-3 ha area (5-15km away from the main village).
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